Member of the Icelandic Parliament
Birgitta Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic politician, poet, artist, and activist known for pioneering the use of digital media in art and politics. She served as a Member of Parliament from 2009 to 2017, first representing the Citizens' Movement and later the Pirate Party, and was a co-founder of both parties. Birgitta gained international recognition for her involvement with WikiLeaks in 2010, where she helped produce the Collateral Murder video, and subsequently founded the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI) to advance media freedom and freedom of information. In Parliament, Birgitta was a powerful advocate for privacy rights, direct democracy, and freedom of information, becoming the first Icelandic MP to be given the mandate to draft a resolution for the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). That resolution, addressing democracy in the digital age and threats to privacy and individual freedom, was unanimously adopted in 2015. She served as Chairman of the Pirate Party from 2014 to 2015 and played a key role in shaping the party's policies on direct democracy and transparency. In 2017, she announced her retirement from politics "for now" after eight years in Parliament. As an artist and writer, Birgitta has published over 20 poetry collections in Icelandic and English and was a pioneer in using the internet as a medium for poetry and multimedia creation. She organized Iceland's first live internet broadcast in 1996 and was a trailblazer in digital art and web design during the 1990s. Her multifaceted work as a multimedia artist, activist, and politician has profoundly shaped Icelandic society, and she is considered one of the most influential figures in the struggle for freedom of information and privacy rights in the Nordic region.
Birgitta is a multimedia artist, writer, poet, translator, and visual artist with a diverse and prolific career. She published her first poetry collection, Frostdingla, in 1989 and has since published over 20 original poetry collections in English and Icelandic. Alongside her literary work, she has worked as a graphic designer and journalist, as well as a columnist for Icelandic and international magazines and online media. She has held numerous painting exhibitions and was a pioneer in creating poetry and art online in the early days of that medium. In 1996, Birgitta organized Iceland's first live internet broadcast as part of the country's first multimedia festival, Drápa, known internationally as Craters on the Moon. The festival website was the most visited website in Iceland at the time and received numerous international awards. That same year, she set up Iceland's first online art gallery in collaboration with the Apple distributor. Her work has been visible on the internet since 1995 when she launched her website Womb of Creation, which was voted the best individual homepage in 1996. After the 2008 financial crisis, Birgitta became highly active in grassroots movements and was one of the founders of Samstaða, a coalition of grassroots groups that became the precursor to the Citizens' Movement. In 2010, she became a volunteer for WikiLeaks and participated in the production of the Collateral Murder video in collaboration with Julian Assange. This experience inspired the founding of the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI), where she became chairman of the board in 2011. She was also involved in two court cases in the United States during her parliamentary term, including the high-profile case Hedges vs Obama.