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3.2.2012
Problems In The Eurozone
One of the challenges of covering a film festival is finding a unifying theme.
26.1.2012
Alliance Francaise’s French Movie Festival
During these more depressing months of the year, the cultural institute Alliance Francaise Islande brightens our existence with this brilliant film festival.
16.1.2012
Reflecting Reality
If life gives you oranges, then make orange soda, the first dance work of December says to me
11.1.2012
Embrace The Crazy
When we last spoke to artist Ragnar Kjartansson in the spring of 2009, he was on his way to represent Iceland at the 53rd edition of The Venice Biennale
6.1.2012
Doubt By Two
IPA Gallery/Íslensk Grafík
January 7 - January 15 2012
16.12.2011
A Tiny Piece Of Freedom
Mazen Maarouf—who has lived all his life as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon—was recently granted sanctuary in Reykjavík through the International Cities of Refuge Network, or ICORN, which offers to relocate persecuted writers to a safe city elsewhere in the world
16.12.2011
A Tiny Piece Of Freedom
Mazen Maarouf—who has lived all his life as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon—was recently granted sanctuary in Reykjavík through the International Cities of Refuge Network, or ICORN, which offers to relocate persecuted writers to a safe city elsewhere in the world
14.12.2011
Casting A Light On The Artist
Few documents bring a nation’s history and lost beauty more vividly and nostalgically to life than a photograph
9.12.2011
New Renaissance
The doors of Austurstræti 3 will open at 17:00 on the dot for art lovers to view the work of Nikhil Kirsh
7.12.2011
Voodoo Economics
Most bibliophiles have bookstores that mean a great deal to them, places where they have spent hundreds, thousands of hours.
2.12.2011
LAB IT UP!
Media labs have been around for about a quarter-century, the most famous being the original one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They have yet to fully enter the mass consciousness, but media labs have sprouted all over the world.
22.11.2011
Iceland As It Should Be
“Is he Swiss?” asks a person in the back row. “No, I think he‘s Estonian,” replies another.
15.11.2011
Diving Into Metamorphosis
The exhibition ‘Metamorphosis’ by fashion designer Hildur Björk Yeoman and photographer Saga Sig has been described as blurring the boundaries of fashion and art.
14.11.2011
A Message In The Garden
A garden doesn’t have to be simply a place for planting and collecting potatoes or relaxing on a bench.
11.11.2011
DesignMarch 2012 Dates Announced!
Mark your calendars! The annual DesignMarch festival, which showcases Icelandic designers, upcoming talent and internationally lauded veterans in the field of design, has been announced for March 22 – 25, 2012.
10.11.2011
YAIC 2K11: A REPORT
You Are In Control is an annual gathering in Reykjavík that brings together key figures from the Icelandic and international creative industries.
7.11.2011
The Clay Of The World
Amnesty International has been fighting for human rights for half a century now, and part of the organisation’s birthday celebration is a film festival in Bíó Paradís titled ‘(In)visible.’
3.11.2011
A _____ Odyssey
Far, far away from home, Odysseus finds his ship wandering towards a smoky bay in Iceland.
13.10.2011
Lots Of Pixels
There's a short film programme in town. It's a good idea: Couch fest films is an initiative that lines up with film festivals around the world in order to screen a selection of recent short films in people's 'cosy residential venues.'
7.10.2011
A Twilight Portrait Of This Year´s RIFF
For me, the last two weeks of September were all about RIFF.
5.10.2011
A Gathering of Dances
In Iceland, seeing the arts requires going to festivals. It's a mode I'm still getting used to, and I'll admit to a lingering attachment to being able to imbibe slowly, one performance a week.
3.10.2011
More At Stake
Rúnar Rúnarsson is a young Icelandic director who became somewhat of a starlet when he was nominated for an Oscar for his short film ‘Síðasti bærinn’ (“The Last Farm”) in 2006, before even entering the Danish Film School whence he has now graduated.
30.9.2011
Lights, Streaming, Action!
Our current digital environment has permanently altered the way most people purchase, rent and view movies, and also how they’re distributed (see: Netflix, Pirate Bay). However, this ‘digital revolution’ has mostly left the Icelandic film industry untouched, with nary a legal option on offer for streaming and downloading enthusiasts.
29.9.2011
Pushing A9ainst
‘Ge9n’ (“A9ainst”) surveys many pressing and intertwined social, economic, and environmental concerns needing in-depth and interdisciplinary re-evaluation now. Yes, now.
28.9.2011
El Bulli: Cooking In Progress
It starts with a fella chomping on a fluorescent fish in the dark, light pouring out of his mouth. Unfazed, his first words are "what protein is this?"
26.9.2011
Doug Stanhope Is Going To Prison
Doug Stanhope is well-known for his irreverent and socially critical style of comedy. He is also visiting Iceland soon, specifically to perform at the Litla-Hraun prison on September 25. We got in touch with him to learn more about the man and how he got this idea.
23.9.2011
The Bounty Hunter Morgan Spurlock
Filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter, bounty hunter* and journalist Spurlock is best known for the documentary film ‘Super Size Me’ and the reality TV series ‘30 Days.’
23.9.2011
An Overcrowded Festival
A couple of weeks ago both Icelandic daily newspapers published a very similar headline about the Reykjavik International Film Festival: “Over a hundred films at RIFF!” the headlines screamed—and you got the feeling everybody felt it was a good thing.
19.9.2011
From Venice to Reykjavik
"Social disease and a new energy coming from a new generation is quite visible in the films I've seen, but cinema continues to be have a avant-garde view of the new society we'll have to face..." says Girgio Gosetti when asked about the way films have changed along with a changed world.
13.9.2011
GERMANY NEEDS YOU!
‘Transeuropa’ is a young European theatre and performance festival in Hildesheim, Germany. For its seventh edition, transeuropa made Iceland one of its partner countries.
9.9.2011
It Is What It Is And It Is It
A veteran Hollywood character actor and established cult figure, Crispin Hellion Glover is an obsession to some and an enigma to all. Having built a career on small roles in big movies, such as his unforgettable part as George McFly in ‘Back To The Future’, Crispin has used his blockbuster earnings to fund a cavalcade of independent projects.
9.9.2011
A Film Festival In Strangers' Houses in Reykjavík!
Hey! We are Couch Fest Films. We are an international short film festival that happens in strangers' houses on September 24. For 2011, we are giddy to be here in Iceland collaborating with the Reykjavik International Film Festival.
6.9.2011
Famous Authors And Absent Authors
The year 2011 is a big one for Icelandic literature. In October, the country will be the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Reykjavík has just been named UNESCO's fifth official ‘City of Literature.’
2.9.2011
Bigger, Better, Still DIY!
Nine years ago, a group of six dancers and choreographers searching for a platform to show their work brought the Reykjavík Dance Festival into being. Since then, the festival has taken on incarnations.
31.8.2011
Famous Authors And Absent Authors
The year 2011 is a big one for Icelandic literature. In October, the country will be the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Reykjavík has just been named UNESCO's fifth official ‘City of Literature.’
29.8.2011
Reykjavík Is Dancing!
Attention dance aficionados, there are some exciting festivals on the horizon. Not only are “Me and My Friends” doing a special English performance of “Be My Guest” at the LÓKAL Theatre Festival on September 3, but the Reykjavík Dance Festival is also putting on its ninth annual event with a series of exciting short films and video installations from September 5 to 11.
29.8.2011
World Wide Friends Free Food Flash Film Festival
Reykjavik’s FREE food and film viewing festival starts today and runs until September 2. The World Wide Friends organization is presenting intriguing, imaginative films that reflect themes such as city life, animation, social documentaries, horror, and Icelandic short films.
26.8.2011
Dedicated To Obscurity
Last year, the promotional poster for the Reykjavík Dance Festival featured a late-twenties dancer wearing shorts and a flesh-coloured bra standing with her back against a wall, one-foot and chin up, staring aggressively at the viewer.
24.8.2011
How you can take a piece of Iceland home with you?
In my opinion, the pleasure of receiving presents has somewhat diminished by the time you reach your 30th birthday, but this gift was different. It had been chosen with care and thoughtfulness.
23.8.2011
Icelandic Checkmate?
In 1831, an ancient set of chess pieces was found in the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland. The most amazing fact about these chessmen—made of walrus ivory and whale teeth—is that they were the oldest figures showing a clear resemblance to modern pieces.
22.8.2011
CLAUS IS IN DJÚPAVÍK
Artist Claus Sterneck from Frankfurt, Germany feels a spiritual connection to the old herring factory in Djúpavík, saying: “It may sound a bit strange, but I feel that maybe I was a herring which was processed in this old herring factory.”
19.8.2011
Breaking My Spell
Michelle L. Morby has come all the way from San Francisco to Reykjavík to participate in the Reykjavík half marathon on August 20. Not planning to set any records, Michelle is here to do a performance endurance piece called ‘Breaking My Spell,” involving nine costume changes. It’s based on a fairy tale she wrote about an enchanted horse-turned-walrus going on a transformational journey to find itself.
18.8.2011
A Symbol Of Hope
It's not every morning that an artist wakes up and decides, “You know what would be great? Doing portraits of government appointees.” But artist Nikhil Kirsh did exactly that, predominantly for ideological reasons.
16.8.2011
Reykjavík Runway
Reykjavík Runway, Iceland’s first fashion consultancy, has provided a fantastic design competition with a twist: where a group of PR and marketing mentors have come together to nurture the nation’s young talents.
15.8.2011
Two Hours To See The Unseen
Coinciding with Cultural Night, The Nordic House hosts the amazing artistic experience 'Unseen & Unheard'.
12.8.2011
High Streets And Piss Pots
Before the authorities plugged them up in 2006, there used to be underground, public toilets on the corner of Bankastræti and Lækjargata. In his most recent book, Einar Már Guðmundsson recounts how the toilets were once the hub of Reykjavík’s seedy area, where boozers and drug users mingled and where teenagers procured condoms.
8.8.2011
Do You Read Me?
Everyday, we face a constant interaction with our internal and external environments that requires of us one hyperawesome skill: LITER-ACY.
3.8.2011
The Brain Behind Zombie Iceland
Journalist, writer, and survivalist Nanna Árnadóttir has just published her first book, called ‘Zombie Iceland.’ As you may have gleaned from the title, it’s a book about zombies in Iceland!
3.8.2011
The Brain Behind Zombie Iceland
Journalist, writer, and survivalist Nanna Árnadóttir has just published her first book, called ‘Zombie Iceland.’ As you may have gleaned from the title, it’s a book about zombies in Iceland!
29.7.2011
Young Hearts
This July 10 to 17 marked the 11-year anniversary of the LungA young artists’ festival in the far-eastern town of Seyðis-fjörður.
26.7.2011
When Ireland Met Iceland
Galway City, Ireland. As I make my way through its winding streets on a characteristically dull, damp day, I find the stubborn voice of my former university lecturer ringing in my ears.
22.7.2011
Can We Capture Iceland?
Reverend John, who will not leave his land and becomes the prisoner of his own loneliness and depression, is he Iceland? Old men, reminiscing about an old sports field, are they Iceland? The Reykjavík 9, accused of attacking the powers that be, are they Iceland?
20.7.2011
THE BEATS OF CINEMA
Future Shorts ONE has come to Reykjavík and wants to kick up a storm in the world of performance, art, cinema and nights out with the people of this city. It aims to be a monthly film event with a difference. Read on to learn more.
15.7.2011
Art Project On The Road To Mongolia
The art collaborative Mud Lab, consisting of the three Icelandic artists, Egill Karlsson, Gunnar Pétursson and Thor Sigurthorsson, will be embarking on a fantastical journey to Mongolia in the end of July… and yes it is a journey via car, not plane!
1.7.2011
An Offer You Shouldn’t Refuse
Located on the outskirts of Iceland, the Westfjords’ lighthouse Galtarviti has inspired Icelandic musicians, artists and writers for years.
30.6.2011
All Is Not As It Seems With Elías Knörr
When you stumble across someone creating fresh stirrings in a literary culture that’s already on a constant creative simmer, they must be doing something worth noticing.
30.6.2011
Moving Mountains: Iceland’s Landscape Travelling Through Time
First-time filmmaker Svavar Jónatansson rode his motorcycle around Iceland in 2004. Awe-inspired by the landscape, he began photographing the scenery on his lone journey.
29.6.2011
Æringur Art Festival
Æringur, the international art festival will take place in Bolungarvík this year.
28.6.2011
Windows Of Opportunity
The long and winding road of Hverfisgata’s cultural reformation got another boost recently with the opening of the studio and exhibition space Black Window.
24.6.2011
Skjaldborg: A Very Short Introduction
Grapevine pays a visit to the infamous Skjaldborg documentary film festival in Patreksfjörður. Fun times ensue!
22.6.2011
Dance At The Arts Festival
Last fall, Alexander Roberts described the Reykjavík dance scene and its potential in glowing terms in these pages. Pointing to talented Icelandic dance makers, an expanded number of dance events in the coming months, and plans for a city-funded theatre devoted solely to dance…well, the future shone.
20.6.2011
Building Momentum In Moss
The sixth-annual Nordic Biennial is coming up on June 18 in Moss, Norway. But don’t worry if you can’t be there. The theme, ‘Imagine Being Here Now’, stretches time as far as it will go.
10.6.2011
Enter The Monsters Club...
Modern society and culture often promote the idea that human monsters are twinkle-eyed, almost supernatural geniuses, affably quoting Wilde and Nietzsche while disembowelling people in the most convoluted way imaginable.
3.6.2011
Venice Biennale
At this very moment, celebrated Spanish-Icelandic artist duo Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson are representing Iceland at the 54th International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia 2011.
20.5.2011
Making an alternative art fair in Iceland
MESSA Teaser is a small-scale ‘teaser event’ in preparation for the first international visual art fair to be held in Iceland.
11.5.2011
Taming The Animal
Reykjavík to New York transplant Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, or Shoplifter as she’s known outside of Iceland, has been making quite a dent in recent years with her designs, including a huge window display in New York’s Museum Of Modern Art.
6.5.2011
The Koddu Controversy
Sicily 212 BCE. General Marcellus sends a soldier to find the mathematician Archimedes and bring him to his court, out of sheer curiosity.
26.4.2011
Give A Hand For The Klapp Collective
A new grassroots start-up is giving the Icelandic film stars of tomorrow a place to shine.
19.4.2011
Iceland Academy of the Arts Graduation Exhibition
Students from the art, design and architecture departments of the Iceland Academy of the Arts will display the culmination of their work of three years this weekend in the exhibition at the Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús.
15.4.2011
CRIME, CRISES AND NORDIC DEPRESSION
The local literary scene is now in the throes of the Nordic crime novel. Admittedly the ancient Icelandic sagas tell tales of murder, blood and revenge, but it was long thought that it was impossible to write crime fiction set in such a small, peaceful society.
8.4.2011
A Censored Exhibit Opens Afresh
Last November, a trio of Icelandic artists were going to put on an exhibition about Iceland’s economic crash.
1.4.2011
Mapping Out ‘Overkill’
Mundi (Guðmundur Hallgrímsson) and Morri (Friðrik Sigurðarson) started working together in 2006, when they met at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
21.3.2011
The Art Of Death
Death. It is something we must all face someday, and yet we seldom want to think about. Magnús Pálsson’s exhibit, ‘Dialogues on Death’ is meant to encourage viewers to face mortality with an open mind.
20.3.2011
German Film Days Are Here!
Iceland’s first ever German movie festival, ‘German Film Days’, commenced at
Bíó Paradís
last Thursday, and will go on until March 27. To get the skinny on what to expect, we called up Annika Große—DAAD Lecturer in German at the University of Iceland—who organised the event along with Bíó Paradís and the
Goethe Institute
.
18.3.2011
Ich Bin Der Püppenmeister
At the end of this fabulous month, Borgarnes, the capital of vast, sprawling Gunnars donut empire, will be host to the first annual Borgarnes International Puppet Festival.
11.3.2011
On The Urgent Necessity Of Banning Poets
Plato, in The Republic, wished to ban all poets. He felt their work was neither ethical, philosophical nor pragmatic—that poetry kindled undesired emotions, wreaked havoc upon true knowledge and was furthermore useless.
11.3.2011
Sequences Art Festival Is Back
Sequences 2011 will present a wide array of performances, events, discussions and lectures throughout Reykjavík and Seyðisfjöður, east Iceland.
16.2.2011
‘Future of Hope’ Returns To Iceland
When filmmaker Henry Bateman set out to create a film about Iceland’s economy, he had little knowledge of Iceland at all.
14.2.2011
The Merchandise Of Venice
. For the three months leading up to this year’s International Art Exhibition in Venice, the Reykjavík Art Museum will be offering a unique retrospective on Iceland’s contributions to the Venice Biennale throughout the years.
9.2.2011
Constitution, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma
Iceland’s constitution has, of late, become something of an apple of discord.
9.2.2011
Kjarval Division: Not Just Another Kjarval Tribute
7.2.2011
The Art Of Any Impact
The most important thing to keep in mind during a fistfight (or while writing a poem) isn't what to do with your arms and knuckles, but where to place your feet.
4.2.2011
Where To, Folks?
Our desire to travel and the nature of our relationship with the places that we go to see is the topic of an international art exhibition, conference and publication entitled ‘Without Destination’ at Reykjavík Art Museum’s Hafnarhús.
26.1.2011
The Long & Short Of It
For the tenth year running, Reykjavík Shorts & Docs will, in the last four days of January, bring you a wide variety of Scandinavian grassroots filmmaking.
26.1.2011
The Long & Short Of It
For the tenth year running, Reykjavík Shorts & Docs will, in the last four days of January, bring you a wide variety of Scandinavian grassroots filmmaking.
26.1.2011
The Good, The Bad, And The Disqualified
The decade has ended and it was a great one for Icelandic filmmaking. More people are making movies and becoming better at making them. Choosing the five best films of 2001-2011 was everything but easy.
21.1.2011
Kitty Von Sometime Plans To Strike Again!
Kitty Von Sometime, the concept artist behind The Weird Girls Project, has ambitious plans for the coming year.
21.1.2011
Je Suis Un Cerf Cardiaque French Film Festival
Háskólabíó’s annual winter tradition of showing us the latest of France and (French-speaking) Canada’s worthy contributions to cinema continues this month...
20.1.2011
Future Perfect Tense
We contacted a bunch of our most beloved local authors and asked them to write short short stories for us with, on the 'Iceland and the next decade'. Their mission, should they accept it, was to consider: "what's in store for our island?"
19.1.2011
The Gates
– Clubs and bars in Iceland have always been run by members of the Progressive party.
– Dad!
– Listen, this is important. Your mother thinks you're too young, but it is important that I tell you about these things early enough. About management. You will not learn this at school.
18.1.2011
2031
The perfect gift was a personal one, Aldís believed, but not too personal. A gift that showed the giver knew something about the receiver’s tastes while at the same time providing an unexpected addition; something that would expand his world. A luxury item, but in a price range that would not betray any ulterior motive.
17.1.2011
The Falling Man
William, a small man of great inner proportions, fell through the thin air. He had stopped screaming. He had stopped trying to avoid the inevitable. The green ground beneath him grew ever bigger as window after window passed him with rapid speed. Soon he would crash and die. Soon his life would be over.
17.1.2011
MoMS at Gallery Kling & Bang
‘Penetration/Innsetning/Installation’ is the latest realization by MoMS, a group of four young male artists who have been working together since 2007 and have been incredibly prolific despite their young age.
17.1.2011
Ten Short New Year’s Speeches Into The Future:
00.00 01.01. 2011
I’ll probably be in the taxi once The New Year arrives, it never comes as was planned for. From the edge of the city you can hear the noise from fireworks, but you just see them vanish up into reddish clouds.
14.1.2011
Winds in Garður
What a coincidence! Last month, the Grapevine gave a few tips on how to catch sight of the Northern lights, and this month the nearby town of Garður is hosting an international art festival dedicated to the elusive green glow.
13.1.2011
May Oral Gnarr Annualise?
Municipal decree stardate 01012021-001 -- January 1st, 2021. State anarchosurreo- separatist municipality of central Laugavegur and the united TGIFs of the greater eurafrican kingdom.
7.1.2011
The Decade Of Fine Arts
I am deeply honoured to have the opportunity to write for Reykjavík Grapevine. Not only because I am a great fan of rock and roll (and pop) music, but also because I value foreigners.
21.12.2010
Visible Darkness
Art Exhibition at Hugmyndahúsið worth a walk in the cold.
17.12.2010
The Icelandic Yule
This Sunday, Terry Gunnell will hold an illustrated lecture in English about the ghosts of Christmas past.
15.12.2010
Time Travelling in Iceland
The Reykjavík Museum of Photography has recently launched a new website that allows you to view some of its specimens without having to forsake the comfort of your home.
8.12.2010
Kinoklúbbur Film Club Presents
The films of Leighton Pierce and Tom Palazzolo
8.12.2010
This Is Your Brain On Crack Cocaine
Each year, for about eight weeks, Icelandic book culture loses its cool and turns into a crazed media circus.
3.12.2010
A Novel, A Translation and Unapologetic Plagiarisms
Who’s not afraid of the big bad wolf of plagiarism? The poet and central character in Bragi Ólafsson’s second novel to come out in English, ‘The Ambassador’, that’s who.
24.11.2010
A Meeting of Iceland's hottest bands
Árni Sveinsson's film 'Backyard' makes Iceland's music scene feel like a big happy family.
18.11.2010
So Is The Wasteland
Oh, alright, I’ll admit it: I don’t understand most poetry. It baffles me.
17.11.2010
More Than Meets the Eye
The current exhibition at Reykjavík Art Museum – Hafnarhús, ‘Power has a Fragrance’, is by the New York and Tokyo based Norwegian-born artist, Gardar Eide Einarsson.
10.11.2010
Transaquania: A Breath of Fresh Air
Breath. What is not seen? What is taken for granted? What is repressed? What, through years of neglect, vanishes as its protest?
5.11.2010
Suit and Tie
5.11.2010
2011 Sequences Art Festival: Call for Submissions!
SEQUENCES Art Festival is an annual independently run festival, established in Reykjavík in 2006 by four artist-run galleries.
27.10.2010
Turning Wool Into Gold
A decade ago Icelandic knits were dismissed by Icelanders, who deemed anything connected to traditional sheep wool as something only their grandmothers were interested in.
21.10.2010
antennae scratch sky by Þórunn Erla Valdimarsdóttir
Divided into sections (‘Intro’, ‘Death and Life’, ‘Cosmic Dreams’, ‘Day to Day’) with colour-coded titles, ‘antennae scratch sky’ touches on life cycles, animal instincts, sexuality, cosmos, fruit and the meaning of the word “motherfucker”.
20.10.2010
'The Four Times'
It is in every film critic's unwritten code of honour not to give away the entire movie in their review. I unfortunately have to break this golden rule to explain why the jury made the right decision.
15.10.2010
This Was The Real Iceland
It is a little difficult to decide which of two ways to describe Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon's new book ‘Wasteland With Words’.
13.10.2010
We Are Never Ready
We caught up with Erna Ómarsdóttir, Gabríela Friðrikdóttir and Damien Jalet as they were rehearsing their new piece ‘Transaquania – Into Thin Air’ and asked them all about it.
12.10.2010
RIFF 2010 For Dummies
So you missed the Reykjavík International Film Festival this year but you want to pretend you were there to impress your friends?
11.10.2010
Future Perfect Poetry
When this text is eventually published the world will know who received the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature.
8.10.2010
YES!
Conceptual artist, performer, musician, experimental filmmaker, peace activist, businesswoman and philanthropist,Yoko Ono is still overshadowed by the role she is most known for: being the widow of musician John Lennon and the accompanying hard-to-shake-off clichés about ‘splitting up the Beatles’.
8.10.2010
Fake Orgasms
One night at RIFF I went to a Fake Orgasm Contest, an off-venue event, where girls (and a couple of guys) moaned at their best.
4.10.2010
Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s first work in English translation, ‘Heaven and Hell’ (‘Himnaríki og helvíti’, Bjartur, October 2007), was released on September 2 by MacLehose Press (an imprint of Quercus).
4.10.2010
Reykjavík Is Dancing
For several years now, Iceland has been building an international reputation for producing a rich and diverse range of independent dance makers.
3.10.2010
Jim Jarmusch on...
“I'm not an analytical person and I don't really analyse what my films mean or what their intention is. I'm intuitive,” says Jim Jarmusch, icon of independent filmmaking.
1.10.2010
It's My Responsibility To Focus on Unknown Bands
Parisian filmmaker Mathieu Saura, better known as Vincent Moon, catapulted to fame after shooting The Arcade Fire playing in an elevator, resulting in collaborations with artists such REM, Sufjan Stevens and Sigur Rós.
1.10.2010
Cinema Paradiso
A few left over champagne glasses on the counter are the sole evidence of the previous night’s big opening party for Bíó Paradís.
30.9.2010
Porn Is Film Also
When I think about cinema, movies and film festivals, porn isn't the first thought that comes to mind.
29.9.2010
Some Like It Cold
It sounded like so much fun: watching a classic movie while splashing about in Sundhöllin, Reykjavík’s oldest swimming pool.
28.9.2010
Quiet, You Ignorant Booby!
24.9.2010
New Visions
Twelve up-and-coming directors will present their first or second films in the ‘New Visions’ category at The Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF), one of which will go home with the festival’s Golden Puffin Award.
20.9.2010
The Seven-Year Itch?
This year, from September 23rd to October 3rd, the Reykjavík International Film Festival will be held for the seventh time.
20.9.2010
Making Perfect Sense
Poetry is the art of the illogical, or even anti-intellectual, performed with the tools of logic and intellectual zealotry: language.
20.9.2010
Cinephiles Rejoice
Summer is nice and all, with all its sunshine and what not. But there is something missing. Films in particular.
15.9.2010
When Is Enough Enough?
That’s the burning question in The Future of Hope, a new film about life in post-crash Iceland produced and directed by British filmmakers, Heather Millard and Henry Bateman.
14.9.2010
Grand Theft Literature
As the Icelandic lit scene gears up to shine as the guests of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 12–16, 2011, Ingi Björn Guðnason, a writer who spends his days working at the Western fjords University, is co-editing Fict.is, a new literary site to get the alternative literary scene noticed.
7.9.2010
Experimentalism is a Humanism
A few days ago (the rather awful) writer’s magazine Writer’s Digest tweeted the following: “Free short story competition to raise awareness for those suffering from depression”.
3.9.2010
Book Review: 25 Beautiful Walks Walking Trails of the Greater Reykjavik Area
With author Reynir Ingibjartsson’s interest in his subject and sense of humour coming through every entry, 25 Beautiful Walks is a nature-walk-lover’s ode to Reykjavík.
3.9.2010
Bjarnfreðarson
Georg Bjarnfreðarson is a fucked up, middle aged lunatic. And he’s in prison for murdering a woman.
1.9.2010
Beyond The Boom-And-Bust
Finding the silver lining around the collapse of Iceland’s economy can seem like a daunting task.
20.8.2010
Cellophane
Alarm clock rings. Press the snooze button (but accidentally turn off alarm). Alarm clock doesn’t ring. Wake up twenty minutes late.
17.8.2010
There´s A New Screen In Town
So far poetry has proved far more adaptable to a higher-and-higher high-tech world than prose fiction, which clings to the book as if the only thing justifying its existence were the bar-code and ISBN-number (not to mention the price-tag).
13.8.2010
Artists At Work // The Icelandic Love Corporation
“How life evolves, how human life is created and how children are born. Where we come from, and where we are going.
6.8.2010
Reading The Eddas (With Google Translate)
Living abroad I regularly get asked about this miraculous language I speak—Icelandic—and if it’s true that we make new words for everything under the sun and can read the 13th century Eddas as easily as if we were drinking ice-cold mead in the midnight sun.
3.8.2010
Vikings in America
By now we all know that Scandinavian settlers reached Greenland in the late 900s and built settlements there that endured for more than four hundred years.
30.7.2010
fArt Is In the Air...
Reykjavík’s one and only performance art festival, artFart, is happening again this summer!
23.7.2010
Empty Pockets, Full Imagination
Every summer for the past six years, Reykjavík’s local youth centre, Hitt Húsið, has offered support and assistance for art groups around the city.
19.7.2010
Hrafnkell Sigurðsson
“I have always been extremely interested in the surface of things,” artist Hrafnkell Sigurðsson tells us.
19.7.2010
Gung Ho
Hot-shot Chinese businessman, millionaire poet and patron-of-the-arts, Huang Nubo, recently decided to start a fund to promote the cultural relations between Iceland and China, inventively named “The China Iceland Cultural Fund.”
12.7.2010
Living Inside The Meltdown
Here is a short book, available only in electronic format, which presents eight interviews with ten people who tell their story of Iceland's economic collapse.
8.7.2010
Used Books Are The Best Books
Bókin, or Bókabúð Braga as it is often called by locals, is quite easy to spot when walking down Hverfisgata.
8.7.2010
Mystery Art In Nowhereland
We are sitting in a pile of hay in Vogar, near Keflavík, drinking wine and watching hipsters lying about in the evening sun.
5.7.2010
artFart Farts On
We know that something brilliant is about to happen in this city: artFart.
5.7.2010
Cotery Poelumn: Pwoermds
It’s a poetic mouthful—a hard-to-perform sound poem in its own right—“pwoermd”.
25.6.2010
Gabríela Friðriksdóttir
This is how Gabríela Friðriksdóttir responds when we ask her what she’s thinking about and investigating in her art these days.
25.6.2010
Can You Read This?
English is the world’s lingua franca (although isn’t it ironic we use a foreign term to describe it?).
23.6.2010
Inscribed Round The Rectum Of A Hollywood Superstar
The Kindle, the iPad, the Nook, the Cybook Opus, the Sony Reader, the iLiad—and now: Megan Fox’s right flank.
22.6.2010
24-Hour Arty People
“Our original idea was that we needed one platform for different kinds of art. In Iceland we have a lot of festivals for film, art and music but nothing that has everything under one roof,” explains Hildur Maral Hamíðsdóttir, one of the organisers of the brand new Jónsvaka festival.
21.6.2010
The Cult of 101
Now translated into over 14 languages, Hallgrímur Helgason’s novel ‘101 Reykjavík’ literally transformed the traditionally held view of Iceland as an untouched Eden into one of party excess.
18.6.2010
The Year of the Ox
The Lord had his heart set on destroying first Iceland, then the world, in punishment for man’s ignorance and greed. The four guardian spirits of Iceland had but a moment to convince the mad Creator that both were worth saving.
18.6.2010
Get Ready For Horrible Cuteness!
Are you excited about Loops 2010 yet? You should be! It’s only the most exciting thing to happen to Reykjavík all summer long.
11.6.2010
Haraldur Jónsson
“I have been exploring the space between the senses,” artist Haraldur Jónsson says when asked what his current work is focused on. He is without doubt one of Grapevine’s favourite local artists; elusive, divisive, thoughtful and interrogative, Haraldur’s body of work of exemplifies a certain type of playful curiosity mixed with immense ambition and skill.
11.6.2010
The Essence Of Iceland
There is certainly no lack for photographic coffee table books in the spectrum of Icelandic publications. Generally aimed at tourists and Icelandophile types, these books tend to show the usual suspects: majestic shots of glaciers, aurora borealis, Jökulsárlón and waterfalls.
9.6.2010
The Icelandic Poetry Community
A reader recently asked, by way of my editor, that I share a few words on the Icelandic poetry community. My first response was a long-winded, athletic “boooooooring” while I rolled my eyes and pretended to gag.
7.6.2010
Breaking Into The Mainstream
Outside of the Sagas and Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness there is little known about Icelandic literature in the English-language literary world.
4.6.2010
Melting Iceland Since 2005
To celebrate the five-year anniversary of me up and moving my ceramics workshop to Iceland from Ireland, I am curating a retrospective of some of my favourite pieces
4.6.2010
Four Spirits
The Lord thought of Pompeii, and wondered why he had let it go at that. In no longer a time than it took to imagine it, he was transported to Italy. He walked around in the shadow of Vesuvius, among the ruins of the ancient city. Its inhabitants were long gone, but their thoughts could still be heard, scribbled here and there among the remnants of their world.
31.5.2010
Art Love-In
In July, the art world will come to Reykjavík, and some musicians too. Commercial galleries from all over Europe are uprooting their shows and transplanting them around the city. The event, Villa Reykjavík, will be free to the public from July 9 to 31.
31.5.2010
Ghosts Of Pompeii
The Lord thought about Pompeii and wondered why he did not do this more often.
27.5.2010
Mad Skills
Recently I read on the news that a man, one Kenny Strasser, had successively duped the producers of numerous TV-programmes into putting him on the air on the premise that he was a master in the art of the yo-yo. When put on the air, however, Kenny got found out: He had no yo-yo skills.
27.5.2010
Art In Translation
From May 27 to 29th, around sixty people from twenty-one countries (eruptions permitting) will gather at the Nordic House and the University of Iceland to talk about art, language, globalisation, and…Jerry Seinfeld. What should he sound like dubbed in Norwegian?
25.5.2010
Let the Farting Commence!
The good people behind the artFart festival will be writing us occasionally this summer, giving a sneak preview this year’s programme and some insight into the inner-workings of producing an independent arts festival in Iceland.
25.5.2010
Barbara Ehrenreich Is Coming!
American New York Times columnist and best-selling author, essayist, feminist, and activist Barbara Ehrenreich will be the keynote speaker at the Icelandic Networking Conference, which will be held May 27-29 at Bifröst University.
14.5.2010
Left, Right And Centre
One of the greatest conservative projects in poetry is called New Formalism. In short, it supports the return to rhymed metrical verse and classical themes.
12.5.2010
Let There Be Art!
Although it may at times seem as though this city is a constant carnival of arts and entertainment, Reykjavík still finds the time to specially designate a full month of the year to creative endeavours.
10.5.2010
God Returns To Iceland
The Lord looked at the world he had created and saw it was—largely—good.
28.4.2010
Different Hearts
The Good Heart is Dagur Kári’s third feature film after Dark Horse (Voksne Mennesker, 2005) and Noi The Albino (Nói Albínói, 2003).
20.4.2010
Daycare, Discourse and Drama
If you were in Reykjavík last summer, you may remember a massive wall of kids grinning at you from a downtown corner.
16.4.2010
High and Low
Reykjavík is a city that keeps it secrets. All the best things about it are hidden away off the beaten path. The best food here is not in the fine restaurants, it is in the carts and little shacks. The best book deals are in the flea market and small bookstores, not in the obvious bookshops.
16.4.2010
Cannon Fodder
I regularly read poetry to Aram, my infant son. He doesn’t “get it,” of course—no matter how I try to explain that he’s really not supposed to understand it but rather “sense it.” But he seems to like the rhythms of it anyways (and/or his father’s theatrical performance), so I keep at it.
19.3.2010
RAFSKINNA #2
This month Rafskinna offers on its webpage a quite unique collaboration between artist Birgir Andrésson and the punk band Rass, performing a classic Eurovision song with a brass band.
The collaboration was an initiative of Kitchen Motors, a think-tank/art collective that has had a special talent for creating a fruitful collaboration...
16.3.2010
The Barbaric Arts
The philosopher Theodor Adorno famously stated in 1949 that writing a poem after Auschwitz was barbaric. He proceeded: “And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today”.
16.2.2010
RAFSKINNA #1
Whether an art form in its own right or just a too costly commercial, the music video has today lost its pivotal status as a major marketing tool in the music business. The 80s heydays initiated by MTV, the world’s first music video channel launched in 1981, are far behind...
10.2.2010
Outmooring Michael: Maybe I Should have
After the disaster that was Guð blessi Ísland, one could be forgiven for approaching the latest disaster movie with some reprehension.
10.2.2010
So What, You Gonna Cry Now?
Most poetry’s pretty fucked up. It tries hard to be hard. Not only hard to understand, but also hard to touch—hard to feel. Sentiment isn’t really welcome in poetry anymore, it’s been outlawed. Sentiment is bad for poetry.
8.2.2010
Making Little Guys Accessible In A Small Country
Icelanders like to brag about per capita records. Most published books in the world, most coffee consumed, highest suicide rates, rah rah rah...
29.1.2010
2009 In Pictures III
25.1.2010
2009 In Pictures II
22.1.2010
2009 In Pictures
These images are from a series titled "Home". They summon up feelings about a distant idea of home and one that is deteriorating. They are all taken this past summer in Rhode Island, USA, one of the places that was home to me in my adolescence.
14.1.2010
A Year Of Waiting, Undercurrent, Countdown, Festivals And No Revolution
The Grapevine somehow managed to convince two of its favourite people from the local artworld – prominent artist Haraldur Jónsson and fellow prominent artist-slash-Living Art Museum director Birta Guðjónsdóttir – to engage in discussion about Icelandic arts in the year 2009. The following is a very abridged account of their discussion.
14.1.2010
The Death Of A Poem
Poetry is a culture heavily impregnated with the idolisation of poets. Popular knowledge of poetry stops where the anecdotes about poets end and the poetry begins.
22.12.2009
Knitting for Christmas
December is pretty much universally recognised as the most difficult month of the year, what with the cold, the dark and the inescapable, mind-numbing ever-present Christmas music. However, what few realise is that this bleak month is especially harrowing for those who knit.
16.12.2009
Beauty Swift: Generation Revolution
“This book is meant for enlightened individuals in any age group and in various states of maturity. You can read explanations of the ways of life and how they have manifested themselves to the author, all instructed by the Universal Awareness”.
14.12.2009
The Jólabókaflóð
You might not have heard of it, but Iceland has a yearly flood. It’s not like the monsoon where the streets are overrun with water and mud. No, this is a different kind of flood, namely the so-called Christmas-Book Flood.
8.12.2009
Two New Guidebooks To Iceland
Need to buy a guidebook to Iceland? You can choose from Lonely Planet, the Rough Guides, Frommer’s, Insight Guides, and the Bradt Guides.
8.12.2009
IT HAS TO BE FUN
Artist Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir interviews Artist Yoshimoto Nara. With some questions by Haukur SM thrown in for good measure. Prepared for print by Haukur SM and Michael Zelenko. Thanks to all our mothers – we couldn’t have done this without being born and stuff.
18.11.2009
Artist Vs. Artist
Egill Sæbjörnsson and Davíð Örn Halldórsson are both prominent young artists that have been raising eyebrows all over for a while now.
17.11.2009
READ THIS COLUMN DON’T READ THIS COLUMN NOW READ
A medieval man has just gotten his first book and can’t seem to get it to work, so he has to ask for help.
12.11.2009
Absolutely Fable-ous!
Twelve volumes and counting, with no end in sight, Fables by Bill Willingham is probably Vertigo’s finest on-going series.
12.11.2009
Technical Difficulties
The Sequences festival was formally launched a week ago, on Friday October 30th. I had heard that major sponsors had been backing out throughout last year due to the financial crisis. I don’t know if this is true, but it would certainly explain some things.
2.11.2009
I’ll Have What He’s Having
Are you tired of writing your own damn poems? Does it feel like you’d rather plunge through the fiery gates of hell rather than come up with one more metaphor/ simile/ aphorism to explain the human condition?
28.10.2009
Art In Sequence, Real-time!
The Sequences arts festival has been pretty awesome these past few years. It is a unique offspring of the big happy Icelandic arts family, and it takes place every October.
27.10.2009
Dungeon (The Series)
French humour has sometimes been described as “not funny” or “weird”. Lewis Trondheim is both French and funny.
7.10.2009
Speaking Like A God
They say human beings use language to make sense of their surroundings.
7.10.2009
Speaking Like A God
They say human beings use language to make sense of their surroundings. We frame, categorise and systematise the objects around us with the help of nouns and verbs and adjectives. The sky is blue. The horse gallops swiftly. The sentence is a ridiculous rhetorical filler.
1.10.2009
Oh No! It's the Radiophonic Paramilitaries
Regardless of whether cinema used to be truth 24 times per second or lies at the same rate, it is now becoming something else entirely.
1.10.2009
The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman
The title and blurb of this book leads you to think it’s about Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, the wife of Þorfinnur Karlsefni and mother of Snorri Þorfinnsson, the first European child to be born on the North American continent.
28.9.2009
Dead Girls in the Snow
Every film festival has one semi-pornographic film to generate debate.
28.9.2009
Frank Castle, The Punisher: Six Hours to Kill
Like so many readers and writers of this beloved mag, you're probably a bleeding heart liberal. You're against whale hunting and capital punishment. That's okay, this reviewer is too. Kinda.
23.9.2009
Funny, Colourful Filth
The comic strips in “The Trial of Colonel Sweeto” are hilarious and multicoloured and filthy like uhm.... like rainbow poop.
21.9.2009
The Blue Fox (Skuggabaldur)
In his 2003 novel, writer/poet Sjón takes the reader on to a journey to provincial Iceland of the 19th century and the life of two men, Pastor Baldur and the farmer Friðrik Friðriksson.
18.9.2009
A Traveler's Guide to Icelandic Folk Tales