Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula will play host to a celebration of human connection and celestial wonder in August next year with the Iceland Eclipse Festival.

Running across four days and with a solar eclipse to kick things off, the limited capacity festival will see punters rubbing shoulders with astronauts, global innovation leaders, and a whole host of music artists from Iceland and beyond, with the first wave of artists, speakers, and guests were announced this week.

The festival is timed to coincide with the August 12th solar eclipse, with the Snæfellsnes Peninsula set to enjoy one of the longest eclipse totalities in the world – over 2 full minutes of darkness.

According to the organisers the festival program is curated around four key experience pillars: Dance, Learn, Connect, and Explore.

Dance, unsurprisingly, is all about music. The festival promises a diverse line-up of live acts from Iceland and around the world. Leading the first announcement is the Grammy-nominated Italians Meduza3, German house duo Booka Shade, and Nightmares of Wax. Iceland’s music scene is of course well represented with dream pop outfit Vök, Eurovision icon Daði Freyr and electronic pop artist Emiliana Torrini amongst those on the line-up.

Learn invites attendees to engage with a range of thinkers, scientists and creators working across a range of different fields and disciplines. There will be keynotes, panels, as well as hands on workshops and interactive labs with topics spanning space exploration, artificial intelligence, digital ethics and neurotechnology. Meanwhile, Connect, run in partnership with Cosmic Pineapple, is about all things earth based and esoteric – think yoga, meditation, breathwork, as well as Indigenous wisdom teachings and Icelandic mythology.

Finally, Explore, invites attendees to reconnect with nature, spirit, and self. The program is led in part by local organisation ReWilding Iceland, and will offer nature expeditions, sauna rituals, cold plunges and spiritual experiences. There will also be the opportunity to engage with the local art and mural scene in nearby Hellissandur, Iceland’s Street Art Capital.

Iceland Eclipse Festival runs from August 12th – 15th on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. Tickets go on sale on Thursday at 15:00 UTC (early morning Friday in Australia). For more information and tickets head to eclipse.is

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