THE WAY – PERFORMATIVE PILGRIMAGES
The Way is a performance piece that invites participants on a pilgrimage where connections to the environment and community take center stage. Each walk is site-specific, shaped by the stories, landscapes, and values of the location. The Way creates space for reflection and experience, where nature, human-made spaces, and the human being itself become part of a performative dialogue.
We Do Everything for Love
In times of climate crisis and increasing disconnection, where fear of the future is growing, performance art can create spaces to strengthen relationships, nurture care, and foster existential sustainability.
The work is based on the idea that the most powerful motivation for changing lifestyles and consumption habits stems from love—love for future generations who will inherit the Earth and love for the more-than-human: mountains, streams, birds, and flowers.
The Way explores pilgrimage as a method for deepening connections—with the Earth, with society, and with ourselves. A pilgrimage is both an outward and inward journey.
Ways to Embark:
Participants can engage with The Way in two formats:
- Guided Group Walk – A structured walk where a group experiences the journey together.
- Self-Guided Walk – After the guided tours, the walk can be downloaded here below for people to experience the piece on their own terms, alone or with others.
The walks are open to all and suitable for all ages.
The Way is part of Beautiful, a performance art project exploring sustainability and connection.
BEAUTIFUL
Fallegt (Beautiful) is the overarching title of two performance projects by Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir that explore sustainability and the human relationship to their environment. Leiðin (The Way) is a performative pilgrimage, and You and I consists of performative encounters with the more-than-human. The project was supported by a twelve-month Icelandic Artists’ Salary grant in 2025.
Mission: We do all for love
In a time of escalating climate change and a lack of intellectually adequate countermeasures, it is necessary to examine the role of the performing arts. Although the challenges of our time cannot be resolved without radical systemic change, the arts can contribute by awakening awareness and strengthening the human relationship to the environment — whether in relation to other people or to nature itself.
For systemic change to be chosen collectively, there must be an urgent need that motivates action. That need is love and connection: love for our descendants who will inherit the earth, and love for the more-than-human — mountains, streams, birds, and flowers. We do everything for love, and the word “beautiful” becomes a healing incantation that transforms despair into agency.
The consequences of disconnection, isolation, and echo chambers weaken humanity’s capacity to prevent its own destruction. Solidarity diminishes, and suspicion and cruelty take root. Here the performing arts have an important role to play by creating and strengthening connection. Transformative art speaks to personal values and touches our self-understanding. To enable change, people must know what they stand for and activate what might be called the muscle of love.
Leiðin and You and I aim to create an existential mirror through performative encounters that both foster connection and invite self-reflection. They are designed to nourish and calm, while at the same time strengthening participants in their will to help save the world by caring for relationships. The projects seek to generate hope and reduce the fear and despair about the future that have become a global condition, particularly affecting young people.
Method: Relation-Creating Staged Encounters
The project as a whole is grounded in the doctoral research How Little Is Enough?, conducted at the Malmö Theatre Academy. In this research, Steinunn developed artistic methods in response to planetary crisis, including relation-specific performance that consciously work with the connections that emerge in encounters between people, phenomena, and places within site-specific participatory performances.
The method works with the relationships that are formed or strengthened within the performative encounter that the performance constitutes. The works consist of the unique elements that each participant brings into the encounter and are therefore specific to the singular constellation of people, place, and moment.
The Way – Vatnsmýrin
A performative pilgrimage through Vatnsmýrin, Reykjavík
The performance makers Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir and Kolbrún Dögg Kristjánsdóttir invite guests to take part in The Way – a performative pilgrimage through Vatnsmýrin wetland in Reykjavík. In the spirit of pilgrimage, participants travel not only through a place but also toward themselves. Through guided reflections, sensory observations, and easy tasks, the way invites awareness of our connection to the surrounding environment. The journey begins and ends at the Nordic House and is open to people of all ages and varying abilities.
The Reykjavík edition is specifically designed with accessibility in mind. Kolbrún Dögg, who co-creates the work, uses a wheelchair and brings lived experience and perspective to the piece.
Time and Place
The journey starts at The Nordic House.
Further dates in August will be announced soon.
The journey is approximately 2.5 kilometers and takes 90–120 minutes. Light refreshments will be offered along the way. The route follows paved walkways and sidewalks, with about 10% on fine gravel paths. The guided walk will be in icelandic but an english and danish version of the work can be accessed through the projects website https://en.fallegt.com/the-way/.
Registration
Please register by email: fallegt@fallegt.com
Include the date and number of participants.
Group walks can also be arranged by request.
The walk is carried out with respect for land and life.
Previous walks 2025: 10th, 12th and 14th June.
The Way – Ásbyrgi
On June 26 and 29, Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir performance maker and Benjamín Þorlákur Kjaran Steinunnarson Eiríksson, park ranger in Ásbyrgi, will lead a performative pilgrimage walk in Ásbyrgi.
In the spirit of pilgrimage, participants travel not only through a place but also toward themselves. Through guided reflections, sensory observations, and easy tasks, the way invites awareness of our connection to the surrounding environment.
Time and Place
Thursday, June 26 at 19:00
Sunday, June 29 at 13:00
The walk starts at Gljúfrastofa Visitor Centre.
The walk lasts 3 hours and covers a distance of 6–8 kilometers along established trails. It is suitable for most people. Dogs are welcome.
A warm drink will be offered along the way.
Guidance is provided in both Icelandic and English.
Registration
Please register by email: fallegt@fallegt.com
Include the date and number of participants.
Group walks can also be arranged by request.
The walk is carried out with respect for land and life.
The Way – Kjós
On July 19, Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir (environmental philosopher), Hrefna Lind Lárusdóttir (performance maker), and Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir (performance maker) will lead a performative pilgrimage in Kjós.
In the spirit of pilgrimage, participants walk toward themselves and their surroundings through guided reflections, observations, and simple tasks that create space for attentiveness and connection.
The walk lasts 2.5 to 3 hours and covers a distance of 6–8 kilometers. It is suitable for most people. Dogs are welcome.
A warm drink will be offered along the way.
Guidance is provided in both Icelandic.
Time and Place
Friday, July 19 at 10:30
Further details will be announced soon.
Registration
Register by email to fallegt@fallegt.com
Please include the date and number of participants.
Group walks can be arranged by request.
The walk is carried out with respect for land and life.
The Way – Hallormstaður
Hallormstaður 7th – 10th August
Guides: Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir collaboration with Nína Magnúsdóttir visual artist.