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

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

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.
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.
28.9.2009

Dead Girls in the Snow

Every film festival has one semi-pornographic film to generate debate.
18.9.2009

Your Post-Collapse Guide to the Movies

It is a sad fact of life that outside the glorious ten days of the Reykjavík International Film Festival, almost everything being served in the cinemas here is standard Hollywood fare. So, being forced to choose between shit and dirt, let us rummage through the droppings in search of nutrition.
17.9.2009

Babe, come onto me

Lo, the oogly woogly wiggly toes of my puffinous pinkster!
Lo, the perpetual whirlpool of his gung ho rainbows!
14.9.2009

Metaphors To Save You At Sea

When the unpredictability and trepidation of the sea becomes symbolic for a nation’s political saga, it’s not bewildering that several contemporary Icelandic artists feel perturbed.
8.9.2009

The Longest Poem in the World

Three hundred and fifty thousand, seven hundred and fourteen verses. Twenty lines per verse, and every line rhymes with the following one.
That’s how long Andrei Gheorghe’s poem is.
2.9.2009

LÓKAL

Iceland’s first and only professional theatre festival, Lókal, will take place in Reykjavík for the second time at the start of September (note: the Act Alone festival in Ísafjörður, while being an international theatre fest, only caters to monologues).
1.9.2009

Dance Party!

Iceland is well known for boasting an impressive art community of every sort and for every walk of life, and dance is no exception. Although the size of the dance community is directly proportional to the size of the country,
20.8.2009

Killing Yourself with Poetry

‘Twas the eve of Nýhils 2nd international poetry festival, late autumn 2006. I was the manager for the second year in a row. For some reason I can’t remember we didn’t have any microphones.
17.8.2009

A Lost Horse Found In Reykjadam

The Lost Horse Gallery has moved from the old converted stable at Skólastræti 1 and found a new home on Vitastígur 9a. Reykjadam/Amstervík is the first exhibition on the new premises.
17.8.2009

The New Rafskinna Is Out!

The good people behind Rafskinna have been hard at work over the past year aggregating stuff for the third issue of everyone’s favourite DVD magazine.
5.8.2009

The Word is a Virus

Imagine a poem so robust and resourceful that it could survive humanity.
21.7.2009

Poetics anonymous

became a poet for more or less the same reason everybody else did: I’m lazy and I wanted to sleep late.
15.7.2009

Kling & Bang: Intriguing

What happens when ten artists come together with a common goal of bringing contemporary Icelandic and international artists to Reykjavík? Kling og Bang.
10.7.2009

Award This!

A few years ago the Icelandic poetry world was rocked by a tectonic scandal that nobody noticed for weeks (and by now, everyone’s forgotten about).
9.7.2009

The Kids Are Doing It For Themselves...

A revival has occurred in artist run spaces after the closing of many exciting galleries such as the Dwarf Gallery, Bananananas and 101 Gallery. Many independent artist-led galleries seemed to have faded and disappeared. It seemed like no one dared to resurrect the old or had the gumption to create something new.
8.7.2009

Art Mania in the East fjords

The Annual LungA Fête (abbreviation for the Youth Art Festival in the East) takes place between the 13th and 19th of July this summer and the celebration sure will be grand ‘cause they’re throwing it for the tenth time!
7.7.2009

Best Place To Look At Statues

In 1909, Iceland’s first sculptor, Einar Jónsson, offered his works as a gift to the nation in exchange for a building to house them (and him). Fast forward five years when the government came to its senses and accepted the gift, and you’ve got the Listasafn Einars Jónssonar, a wicked building designed by the sculptor himself in collaboration with architect Guðjón Samúelsson.


3.7.2009

Teach Us How to Roar Like a Monster

Bad hair day, spin the bottle, beat on a pregnant woman and forge an unbreakable connection. 
24.6.2009

To The Death!

As I may have mentioned before, poetry was (in Iceland) once considered a gift from God, the misuse of which could result in the loss of said gift.
22.6.2009

101 Tokyo: A Crash Course

When you reach the ultimate peak of your creativity and come up with an idea so absurd and original that you’re certain it’s unprecedented, hold on before you run out to obtain a patent; it’s inevitable that someone in Tokyo already signed up for it.
19.6.2009

Playing Around in the Bed of Roses

“Life isn’t just a game- it’s also a bed of roses...” is an odd title for an exhibition, although when you think of the 1960s it begins to explain the blissful bed of roses imagery. It does appear in one’s mind as a much more dreamier time, fond of its simple aspirations and lethargic dreams. 
12.6.2009

Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness

A terrifying secret.
12.6.2009

Humanimal

’m not entirely sure what I just witnessed, but I am sure that it was incredible, beautiful, powerful. Set against a backdrop of miscellaneous articles of clothing, arranged along the colour spectrum – blue, green, yellow, cream, beige, brown, purple – six masses of lycra, cotton and knit wool began to move.
12.6.2009

Comic Strip

11.6.2009

We Want You

Diligent readers of the Reykjavik Grapevine, as well as Reykjavík art enthusiasts, must have witnessed the get-up-and-go attitude at the Lost Horse Gallery over the last two years. Its operator, Alex Zaklynsky, has been hard-hitting in establishing lively collaborations as well as hosting unorthodox exhibitions, installments, etc. But what is it that’s so charming about these old stables morphed into art haven?
10.6.2009

Two Thousand Krónur´s Worth Of Freedom

Your language is somebody else’s property. Not only does it get dealt with in grammar books, by officials making official rules for how things can and cannot be – but everytime anybody gets a good idea for a phrasing, a metaphor, a pun or a pickup line sooner than later someone is going to use that piece of (your?) language to sell you something – deodorant, cars, bras, müsli, politics, sneakers.
   
10.6.2009

Five Guys to Turn a Straight Man Gay

Women, whether sitting on panels of beauty contests or destroying each others’ fashion sense around the water cooler, have always been able to appreciate feminine beauty. This, of course, gives them a distinct competitive advantage when it comes to bending us to their wills.
It’s high time we turned the tables and that grown men started discussing each other’s looks in other than derogatory fashion.
So here, in the interests of gender equality, are five men who would make even the most militant heterosexual question his beliefs.
10.6.2009

Comic Strip

9.6.2009

A Very Brief History of Icelandic Film Making

The history of film making in Iceland only has an unbroken history going back to 1977, and the somewhat underrated Morðsaga. The subsequent period is often referred to as the “spring of Icelandic film making,” and in the early 80’s a slew of directors such as Ágúst Guðmundsson, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson and Þráinn Bertelsson emerged who were to map out an Icelandic approach to movie making.
8.6.2009

Comic Strip

27.5.2009

We’re Number 1!

Icelandic conceptual artist, Kristján Guðmundsson, has been selected to receive the Carnegie Art Award in recognition of his sound-absorbing paintings. Guðmundsson is considered one of Iceland’s most accomplished contemporary artists and his works often examines the tension that exists between nothing and something. His outstanding contribution to Nordic contemporary art was acknowledged by a 6-person jury, which unanimously selected Guðmundsson for the 1,000,000 SEK first prize.

27.5.2009

Fiction Conflicting With Reality

I spent the day at the Kópavogur Museum of Natural History with artist Sigurrós Svava Ólafsdóttir as she explained the ideas and concepts behind the recent Artifacts exhibition, curated by Ingunn Fjóla Ingþórsdóttir and Þórdís Jóhannesdóttir. 
26.5.2009

Warning: You don´t need poetry

Anyone that gets a rudimentary education in the Western world, or at least in the places I know anything about, is taught that poetry is like vitamins – it’s good for you. It’ll enlighten your mind, make you more aware of your emotions, your sensibilities, the entire scope of your inner life. It is the “highest of art forms” – so sublime that it can hardly be viewed with human eyes, read with human brains. It’s extremely difficult to understand and just to grasp the littlest bits of it requires a life-long commitment.

25.5.2009

The City is Alive

Engaging exhibitions are gracing the Reykjavík galleries and museums. Coinciding with the Reykjavík Arts Festival, a few spaces have opened up new shows that stimulate the senses. And the best part, there is still more to come.
11.5.2009

Nazi Zombies at the Movies

Like crossing garlic with blue cheese, it’s hard to see how you can go wrong with two such strong ingredients as Nazis AND zombies, all rolled into one mouth-watering package. And yet, more often than not, you end up feeling unfulfilled with stink in your mouth. So far, the 21st Century has given us three films featuring Nazi undead. No sign yet of a Churchill/Van Helsing team-up, so we have to make due with:
8.5.2009

Iceland’s ties to Recluse Anti-Semitic Chess Grandmaster

The April 16th premiere of “Me & Bobby Fischer” kicked off Green Light Films’ Bíódagar film festival, which showcases 17 films in as many days. The offering of director Friðrik Guðmundsson, “Me & Bobby Fischer,” follows carpenter, retired policeman and unlikely Fischer companion Sæmi Pálsson as he ventures to Japan and back to deliver the late chess grandmaster to exile in Iceland.
8.5.2009

Otherworldly Creatures

Choreographers Erna Ómarsdóttir and Damien Jalet and visual artist Gabríella Friðriksdóttir created an emerging world, rising up from the milky waters of the lagoon, in celebration of the final day of winter.
8.5.2009

What Will We Remember?

The annual Iceland Academy of The Arts show at Kjarvalsstaðir was another diverse range of innovative designs and artwork, divided into five sections: Fine Art, Fashion, Graphic Design, Product Design and Architecture. But what will be remembered?
8.5.2009

A Reconstruction of Thoughts

8.5.2009

It's Not Easy to Make a Mark

Painting is undoubtedly one of the most challenging media to be working in today, due to its massive baggage of history and competition. After all, it has been declared dead numerous times by noted artists and philosophers. Painting requires skill, innovation and, as in any art form, historical awareness.
8.5.2009

Saving Iceland

Most of the major disputes of the past ten years have now been settled. The War in Iraq was a terrible idea. Neo-liberalism was a terrible idea. Privatizing the banks was a terrible idea. However, the jury is still out on Kárahjúkavirkjun, the colossal dam in the highlands. From a conservationist point of view, the dam is an unmitigated environmental disaster. That much is clear. The question now is, what did we get in return?
8.5.2009

Hay-grinder of the greenpeace-kitten earth-channels of the desert-asphalt sugar-free beach-found transparent salt-Coke

When modernism in poetry shocked its way through Europe in the beginning of the last century, people’s main concern was how the hell to understand it. The modernists would often build image upon image in ways that many readers found antagonizing – like oh so much posturing – and it was made new rather than simple, the emphasis being on visual (mostly metaphorical) complexity as the number one tool of the trade. “The tower like a one-eyed great goose / cranes up out of the olive grove,” to quote Pound (Canto II). 
3.4.2009

A Design For Life

During the last few weeks, it has undoubtedly been hard to ignore the various (and often minimal) design instalments scattered around town. Don’t get me wrong though, to the untrained eye it might just seem that Icelanders are a colourful and artsy pack.
3.4.2009

101 Projects: Silenced

A critical part of Iceland’s society, the arts, is feeling the impact of the economic crisis, as businesses are losing sponsors and funding. One art space that has sadly fallen victim to this crisis is 101 Projects.
6.3.2009

Ipseity - Abeyance

As part of the Northern Lights Festival, the Nordic House has been hosting the group exhibition “Ipseity- Abeyance”.
6.3.2009

God Makes Poets Go Bonkers

Not much is known about 17th century poet Þorbjörn Þórðarsson or his life, even his identity and name are up for debate.
13.2.2009

What Does "Welcome Home" Signify?

The Icelandic Dance Company premieres its February production, "Welcome Home"
9.1.2009

2008 Arts In 25 Minutes

The Grapevine's arts panel discussed 2008 arts Iceland over coffee at the Grapevine office, right before New Year's. The following is an transcript of their discourse.
10.12.2008

The Christmas Cat

“We’ve got this database of monsters and creatures in our past. These stories are fascinating, it’s a shame that they’re not used more in modern culture,” remarked comic artist Hugleikur Dagsson in an interview this summer.
4.12.2008

Candy from Trolls

The play "Let's talk Christmas" teaches foreigners about Icelandic Christmas customs. The Grapevine attended it and learned much from Grýla.
7.11.2008

Turning Things Around

By Yesterday, artist-slash-Left Green alternate MP Hlynur Hallsson opened an exhibition pretty much all over 101 Reykjavík. Even though the show, entitled ÚT/INN (“OUT/IN”) has its official headquarters in the main hall of the Reykjavík Art Museum, it’s concept and execution rely on the goodwill and co-operation of several downtown businesses and institutions, all of whom Hallsson says were extremely helpful throughout the twelve months it took to plan and prepare the venture.
6.11.2008

Yoko Ono's tower of peace

Just in Time, Like a white dove, Yoko Ono brings peace to a devastated nation.

Yoko Ono has the people of Iceland in her heart, so she said at the Imagine Peace press conference she attended October 9 in Reykjavik. This is the second conference of its kind and was the prelude to the lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower, which she dedicates to world peace and the honour of her late husband John Lennon, on his birthday.

 “There’s so many beautiful things that are going on in Iceland,” Yoko said when asked why she choose to come here. “Iceland is almost the strongest influence to the world, not just that, when you come here you feel everything is clean and full of very resilient people.”

6.11.2008

The world can be changed through fiction

At 32-years of age, Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir is already the author of six novels in addition to volumes of short stories and other works. Her latest novel, Skaparinn (e. The Maker), is a tale of two persons who share their misery for a few days in a series of complicated events. A Grapevine journalist met with Guðrún Eva at her home in Reykjavík to discuss her new book, her work ethics and the author’s role in society.
6.11.2008

That Ignorance is restraining

When David Foster Wallace committed suicide on September 12, 2008, the news hit literate America like kick to the gut. We tend to point at the last seven years as particularly rough, and September as a month to get through anyway, but to throw this on, to lose our greatest living writer, was hard to take. Then, with the obits of this writer having just left the American book reviews and magazines, we got a casual aside from Swede Horace Engdahl, speaking as permanent secretary of the Nobel prize jury.
29.9.2008

Sequences Festival 2008

The Site-Specific Revolution
29.9.2008

A Journey Without a Determined Destination

Bringing art out of the galleries
26.9.2008

The Cinematic Laboratory

Filmmakers experiment with time
26.9.2008

8+8=8

Designers meet manufacturers in Halnarfjörður
12.9.2008

A Visit to the National Museum of Iceland

For those who are interested in learning more about Iceland’s storied past, the National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn Íslands) offers a unique treasure-trove of historic exhibits.
12.9.2008

The Traditional Form does not Appeal to me

Jón Kalman Stefánsson  is a picture perfect novelist yet a sympathetic scientist
12.9.2008

The Birth of the New Icelandic Product

Designers make their mark on food.
12.9.2008

Alone With a Drone

If you have ever had the pleasure of hearing the drone of a langspil, then you can count yourself very lucky, but it looks like a Jenga box
4.9.2008

Fish and Ships

Grapevine visits the Reykjavik Maritime Museum
4.9.2008

This Nordic Life

A Closer look at the Nordic House in Reykjavik
3.9.2008

Without this, I would have died

Contemporary dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir comes from Kópavogur, and is a lauded artist in her field.
     The Grapevine caught celebrated contemporary dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir on the phone from Zurich, where she is staging a show in collaboration with artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir.
3.9.2008

Dick Cheney is the Dark Knight

After a slew of thought provoking and intelligent films that helped turn public perceptions against the war in Iraq (remember that one?), we are now back to business as usual. Valur Gunnarsson takes a loot at this summer’s blockbusters.
18.8.2008

Pride and Prejudice

The gay rights campaign in Iceland has been running since 1978.  From an invisible group and an oppressed minority to a strong organisation and community
18.8.2008

Fabulously Dragged to Rehab

The theme for this year’s Icelandic Drag Competition was “Opera Horror” and the Drag Queens of Reykjavík delivered.
18.8.2008

The Future of Rock and Roll

With the world shrinking at a continuously faster pace, far away places are being exposed to western popular music and rock.
15.8.2008

WANTED: Corpses or soon-to-be Corpses

Snorri Ásmundsson has the reputation of being Iceland’s most infamous artist. If one’s in doubt, his provoking pieces must authenticate his fame.
15.8.2008

Welcome to the Tropical Island of Iceland

Following an unusually squelching heat wave, temperatures topped out a blistering 26.2°C in Reykjavík on July 30th, breaking the all-time hottest record for the capital city.
15.8.2008

The Foreigner's Guide to Icelandic Colleges

Many consider the choice of studying in Iceland as somewhat of an oddity, but the main attraction must lie in the modest tuition fees and the rather lenient admission qualifications.
15.8.2008

Yet Naother Icelandic Monster: Marbendill

Last issue, we learned about fatal underwater horse Nykur, who likes to lure folks to a watery grave using a combination of charm and adhesive skin.
1.8.2008

The List

Bryndís was born in Reykjavík in 1987, and lived in Vesturbær, Akureyri and London until she was 12. Her interest in music awoke at a young age and she now studies at The Icelandic Musicians Union (FÍH).
1.8.2008

Fairground in the Family

Taylors Funfairs are run by the sixth generation of British Fairground folk. Now in their 18th year in Iceland, their Tivoli in Hafnarfjörður is currently in full swing. David Taylor has been running the fair for 33 years and it has been passed down from generation to generation for over a century.
1.8.2008

Grand Design for a Grand Institution

Hjálmar Ragnarsson, Director of The Icelandic Academy of the Arts (LHÍ), has been in the news a lot lately. He recently introduced a proposal for the academy’s new headquarters to be built by Reykjavík’s main shopping-street, Laugavegur, by 2011.
1.8.2008

Janus & Tinna

Janus Bragi Jakobsson and Tinna Ottesen are an Icelandic couple who have gained attention recently for the experimental underwater concerts they held during the four day warm-up proceeding the Roskilde Music Festival.
1.8.2008

Lost in Iceland?

Google has mapped the moon, Mars and the sky, yet amazingly cannot provide a roadmap for Iceland.
1.8.2008

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Cafe D’Haïti on Tryggvagata 16 was established last April and has been steadily gaining fans ever since.
1.8.2008

Another Icelandic Monster: Nykur

The creature we feature this month, for all your learning pleasures, is the horse-like amphibian Nykur. Try saying that slowly: Nykur. Ny-kur.
1.8.2008

Great Moments in Icelandic History: Iceland get the beer back

Imagining Reykjavík without beer is like imagining Amsterdam without hash brownies. However, only nineteen years ago (!) it was against the law to sell and buy beer in Iceland.
29.7.2008

The List

Lucas is currently working as a chef at La Primavera and trying to finish up a four piece series for a young man who saw his work at Cafe Hljómalind. His friends at Noland and The Reykjavík Skate Shop just got their screen printing studio up and running, so he's looking forward to doing some cool stuff with them.
29.7.2008

A Necessary Evil

To a foreigner, the concept of a ‘Sveitaball’ can be confusing. The word “sveit” can be defined as “country” or “countryside”, and the word can literally be translated “country dance”. Which sounds innocuous enough (square dancing with neighbours and relatives to the tune of fiddles, perhaps?), were it not for the dense lore that surrounds it
29.7.2008

The Dog Day King

29.7.2008

How to Survive a Recession

29.7.2008

Mundi

29.7.2008

A Real Horrorshow

Well, where to begin? While I'm sitting here in my bed at 4AM on a Sunday night, still smelling of beer and other odorous liquids, I still remember the moment when we entered the 9-hour-from-Reykjavík town, Neskaupstaður, which had already begun transforming from this lovely and peaceful sailor village into a raving limbo. The allegedly sweatiest summer festival in Iceland, Flight of the Testicles, had begun. 
29.7.2008

Introducing: Hugleikur and the Monsters

We interviewed master comic Hugleikur Dagsson a couple of issues back, focusing on his growing international success as the go-to guy for pitch black humour and his latest published work, Garðarshólmi, which appears on the margins of Iceland’s 2008 phonebook. Our interview lamented the fact that Garðarshólmi had yet to be translated into English, as it features some of Iceland’s best-loved mythological creatures of yore in full action, and is thus quite educational.
29.7.2008

Great Moments in Icelandic History

29.7.2008

Fear and Loathing in Reykjavík

Visiting every pub in Reykjavík over the course of three weeks is both grossly unhealthy as well as downright stupid. Drinking heavily can result in vomiting, bankruptcy and the danger of doing things and/or people you’ll regret. Of course that didn’t stop this intrepid reporter from going where many, many people have gone before.
15.7.2008

Lamenting a Dying Model

Ultimately, Kjötborg is a portrait of a nation that has undergone some severe changes in a short amount of time and what those changes mean; a reflection on Icelanders’ shifting values and aspirations, where they may be leading us and what we may be losing in the process
15.7.2008

French Fries and Religious Symbols

The stories become new fragmented concepts, which really represents my identity, fragmented sort of tapestry of these different deeply religious things
15.7.2008

Loads of Visual Fun!

The second issue of Rafskinna DVD Magazine was released on July 3, stuffed with all kinds of visual entertainment
14.7.2008

The Artists Have Come Home to Roost

On July 4, three visual artists will open an exhibition in Kling&Bang Gallery on Laugarvegur 23. This exhibition is in fact a reunion, for the exact combo of artists opened another installation ten years ago
2.7.2008

Painting the National Pride

Artists Davíð Örn Halldórsson and Alexander Zaklynsky bring together a group of 12 artists in a diverse and highly stimulating exhibition at the Lost Horse Gallery.
2.7.2008

Documenting Icelandic Culture

“Iceland has so much new talent these days, I think it deserves it… I came here and I was so amazed. It just begged to be made.”
2.7.2008

June 17

The skyline swelled with inflatable castles and slides, and lines twisted out of hot dog and waffle booths.
2.7.2008

Buy Icelandic Design Online

To make Icelandic design more accessible to worldwide shoppers, two local pioneers with an eye for quality products, Kjartan Sturluson and Ingvi Þór Guðmundsson, recently opened a new design store on the Internet.
2.7.2008

Organ Theme-market

Every Friday and Saturday this summer, a lively outdoor market will fill the port in front of bar/concert venue Organ in Hafnarstræti. The market is open from 14:00 to 19:00 and the concept is to emphasise on different themes every weekend.
2.7.2008

Shit, Piss, Vomit and Blood. And Cum

“I often recycle old jokes. You could even say I only have twenty or thirty jokes that I keep re-telling in different ways. But that’s what all cartoonists do.”
18.6.2008

The Most Expensive Icelandic Film

 Director Dagur Kári has earned his spot as one of Iceland’s leading directors, although he was born in Paris and educated in Denmark. After the success of his debut film, Nói Albínói, Dagur Kári shot his second feature film, Voksne Mennesker, in Denmark. Although he once described the Icelandic movie industry as a playground, compared to Denmark, Dagur Kári has returned to Iceland to film his next and biggest film so far, The Good Heart.
18.6.2008

The Politics of Archaeology

As if to complete the role reversal, in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones falls asleep just as Marion is kissing him. In The Mummy, Evelyn falls asleep just as she is about to be kissed by Rick. In both cases, it is a sign of strength to need love less than the other party.

9.5.2008

Interpreting the Icelandic Psyche

“My pictures are silent descriptions, staging melancholy, fragility and nobleness of the ordinary life,” says French photographer Thomas Humery
9.5.2008

Experimental Museum

4.4.2008

Calling Vatnajökull

4.4.2008

Don Mexico-Harald

7.3.2008

Kommunan

7.3.2008

Art n’ Roll

11.1.2008

Recent Books About Iceland

7.12.2007

Back to the Beginning

8.11.2007

The MOMS Parade

The audience squirted ketchup on us, threw oatmeal and dog food at us and screamed in anger.
8.11.2007

Birgir Andrésson (1955-2007)

6.10.2007

Awakening the Couch Potatoes

6.10.2007

Singing Painting at Nylo

Artist and musician Ragnar Kjartansson opens a solo exhibition at the Living Art Museum (Nylo) this Saturday, October 6. Ragnar, known both as the singer of electro pop group Trabant and as an inventive performance artist, collaborated with composer and Flís pianist Davíð Þór Jónsson to create his newest piece, entitled ”God”. Accompanied by the experimental jazz-trio Flís and a mini symphony orchestra, he has filmed a 30-minute long musical video, which will be displayed for the first time at Nylo. Grapevine sat down with Ragnar and Davíð Þór to find out more about it.
6.10.2007

Reykjavík 871±2

Aðalstræti 16
101 Reykjavík
Tel.: 411 6370
www.reykjavikmuseum.is
6.10.2007

The Sequences Art Festival

21.9.2007

An Everyday Extraordinary

21.9.2007

Five Classic Books About Moving to the North Atlantic

21.9.2007

The Saga Museum

21.9.2007

Reykjavík International Film Festival Preview

The fourth annual Reykjavík International Film Festival will take place September 27 – October 7. Founded in 2004 by a group of film enthusiasts and professionals with the goal of creating an annual international film festival in Reykjavik, RIFF has become the one of the main cultural events in Iceland, with last year’s guests exceeding 15,000 people.
7.9.2007

Locating Iceland

7.9.2007

Icelandic Art

7.9.2007

Spreading the Love

24.8.2007

Special Souvenirs

24.8.2007

Icelandic Art in Iran

24.8.2007

National Museum of Iceland

24.8.2007

Reykjavík Culture Night

10.8.2007

It’s a Lonely Old Town

10.8.2007

The Return of the Divine Mary

10.8.2007

The Ghost Centre

10.8.2007

Sex, Lies and Soccer

10.8.2007

An Enlightening Night

27.7.2007

Seabear: A Fully-fledged Team

The lo-fi country pop group Seabear will be among the many acts performing at the annual Innipúkinn music festival, taking place in Reykjavík on August 4 and 5.
27.7.2007

Bringing Art to the Public

27.7.2007

Gallery Crush

27.7.2007

Toys for Tourists

27.7.2007

Rafskinna

27.7.2007

The Maritime Museum

27.7.2007

Not the Same Old Jens

13.7.2007

The Einar Jónsson Museum

13.7.2007

Surtsey Exhibition

13.7.2007

Outside and Off the Grid

13.7.2007

Icelandic Folk Legends

13.7.2007

LungA Young Artists’ Festival

13.7.2007

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

The next big thing to casually walk all over the Reykjavík music scene is undoubtedly brighteyed Retro Stefson. Fresh from middle school and already two years into their game, the eight-piece is being nursed to stardom by some of the Reykjavík music scene’s biggest names. Grapevine sat down with Unnsteinn, Þórður, and Þorbjörg after their gig at Herrafataverzlun Kormáks & Skjaldar to discuss their climb up the under-aged ladder to success.
29.6.2007

Pioneering Sculptures

29.6.2007

On The Lot: Iceland

It is hard to pinpoint with any accuracy when an Icelandic film industry emerged. I
15.6.2007

Street Art: Accepted in Galleries, Banned in the Streets

15.6.2007

Bubbling Icelandic Design

15.6.2007

Rvk Tattoo Festival

15.6.2007

Fotografí Fine Photography

Ari Sigvaldason knew he was interested in photography, but it wasn’t until February when he quit his job of 15 years as a reporter with national broadcaster RUV that he was able to fully realise his passion.
15.6.2007

June 17 Celebration

18.5.2007

Expanding the Documentary Culture

18.5.2007

A Cross Between Power and Vulnerability

New York artist Spencer Tunick is an internationally acclaimed photographer and performance artist, renowned for his abstract creations featuring groups of nudes posing in public spaces around the world. Since early in the 90s, he’s been documenting massive nude installations where he gathers volunteers to lie among thousands of other naked people to create different shapes and forms, all in the name of art. Grapevine met Tunick at Gallery i8 where he is currently exhibiting some of his most recent works, including photographs he shot in Iceland a year ago.
4.5.2007

Vitality and Relevance

4.5.2007

Vesturport: “A Bunch of Divas”

4.5.2007

Reykjavík Arts Festival

13.4.2007

Film Club Fjalakötturinn

8.3.2007

The Advanced Way to Experience Art

Grapevine meets Rafskinna, Iceland’s First DVD Magazine.
9.2.2007

Taking Dance to the Extremes: Trolls and Transformations in February’s Grand Premiere

9.2.2007

Recent Books about Iceland

These five intriguing books are all either wholly or partly about Iceland and all have come out over the past year or so. All are available on loan from Reykjavík’s libraries, or can be ordered online or from Bóksala stúdenta.
12.1.2007

The Floating World An Extract

12.1.2007

Bread Cakes & Heartbreaks

12.1.2007

Filling the Klink & Bank Gap

1.12.2006

A Christmas Flood of Books and Noah’s Freezer Trawler

1.12.2006

Hot Spring River This River? (Or: Who’s Sheep is This?)

1.12.2006

Chaplin’s Genius Meets A Finely Tuned Orchestra

1.12.2006

The Ambassador An excerpt

1.12.2006

Spessi’s Locations

3.11.2006

Uchronia

3.11.2006

Fiery Love Affair and Icelandic Chauvinism

3.11.2006

Selection of Old Masterpieces

3.11.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine:

Author/poet Steinar Bragi (b. 1975) is regarded as one of Iceland’s promising young writers, although it could be argued that his four novels and five books of poetry have far surpassed the claim. His latest book of poetry, Litli Kall Strikes Again was released by Nýhil this summer as part of its Nordic Literature series – many claim it is his best so far.
6.10.2006

Reykjavík International Film Festival

6.10.2006

Faces

6.10.2006

The Invasion of the Visual Artists

6.10.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine:

Þórdís Björnsdóttir (b. 1978) has been affiliated with the Nýhil group ever since releasing her first book in 2004, Ást og Appelsínur, which received much hype (for a poetry book, anyway). Since then, she has released the prose book Vera and Linus in cahoots with Jesse Ball, as well as the book of poetry this week’s Nýhil selection is culled from: …og svo kom nóttin (…And Then Came the Night).
22.9.2006

Pimped Up Party Mobiles

22.9.2006

Minnesota Vikings to Fight Way Out Of Jungle

22.9.2006

LoveStar

22.9.2006

Modern Installations at Hafnarborg

22.9.2006

Movie Reviews

22.9.2006

RIFF Brings Darkness to Urban Youth

The annual Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) is approaching, and along with it a series of seminars, symposia, celebrities and special events – not to mention a veritable bevy of cinema.
22.9.2006

Movie Madness

22.9.2006

“A deep, strong hope in its core”

8.9.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine:

8.9.2006

The Grapevine Goes to the Movies

8.9.2006

The Beatle Manifesto

8.9.2006

Change In the House of Arts

26.8.2006

One Spring near the Close of the Century

26.8.2006

Matt Freakin’ Dillon! Doing Bukowski!

Matt Dillon’s and Marissa Tomei’s presence at the opening ceremony of the Iceland International Film Festival this year will be a highlight for film in Iceland, but it is only part of what cinephiles can look forward to in the three weeks of IIFF.
26.8.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine:

Haukur Már Helgason is no stranger to the Grapevine – he was the first Icelandic writer I hired after taking over as editor, and he wrote a scathing critique of the arts scene in Iceland called Screaming Masterpiece for my second issue. When he isn’t shaping debate on the arts in local magazines, he teaches around the country, and he publishes poetry with the group he helped found, Nýhil. Instead of submitting a translation of his poetry, Helgason has instead constructed… something else entirely. All in keeping with a man who once served as the Grapevine’s Existentialist Restaurant Reviewer. BC
26.8.2006

ICE-land Takes Puns to New Low Fronts

There are 56 words in the Icelandic language for “snow & ice”. In English, we have “snow” and “ice”.
26.8.2006

Flexible, Greased Up Comedy

“Where are my dirty, horny women!?!”
11.8.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine:

Probably better known for his works as a musician, múm member and co-founder Örvar Þóreyjarson-Smárason (b. 1977) is also a poet/author. He recently published his first book of poetry, Gamall þrjótur, nýjir tímar (“Old villain, new times”) as a part of Nýhil’s Nordic Literature series. It was preceded by the (in some cases) critically acclaimed novella Úfin, strokin (“Ruffled, stroked”), released in 2005 and described as a detective boy novel updated for modern times. The accompanying poems, drawn from Örvar’s poetry debut, were self-translated from Icelandic and are representative of both his favoured topics (seemingly a sort of small town nostalgia) and style of writing. HM
11.8.2006

451 Degrees of Colin Farrell

11.8.2006

Marathons in the Morning, Culture at Night - Menningarnótt in Reykjavík

11.8.2006

A Boat with Sails and All

28.7.2006

The Building that Shaped the CityAusturstræti 16

28.7.2006

Are You Gay Enough For This? – Different Days in Reykjavík

28.7.2006

Nýhil Poetry in the Grapevine

28.7.2006

A Northern Take on Carnival, Without the Religion

Feel like going on a road trip and listening to pop bands play in front of gregariously drunk locals celebrating their annual holiday by goofing off with grilled hot dogs and taking part in various activities while the police are trying to keep everything under control?
14.7.2006

Nýhil Poetry itn the Grapevine:

Following the publication of a remarkable nine-volume set of poetry from the Nýhil poetry collective, we decided to attempt to present the works of this group in the original and with translations by the poets themselves into English. Our first featured poet has been featured in the Grapevine before as a columnist and feature writer. Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl (born 1978) is from Ísafjörður in the remote West Fjords of Iceland. Establishing himself with a number of collections and a novel, and with a series of well-received readings, including a stint opening up for rocker Mugison, Norðdahl may be the most public face of Nýhil. BC
14.7.2006

Nýhil Poetry Bookstore

14.7.2006

The Climax of All Our Hard Work – Inside Reykjavík: The Grapevine Guide

14.7.2006

Roots, Rock, Reykjavík

30.6.2006

JÓNI JÓNS AT TURPENTINE

30.6.2006

Autoxenophobia for Dummies

30.6.2006

World of Warcraft

30.6.2006

Independent People / Sugar-Crazed Kids

16.6.2006

The Carnegie Art Award 2006

16.6.2006

If You’re Actually Into World Domination

16.6.2006

Playstation Goes Cosa Nostra

19.5.2006

Serenity

19.5.2006

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

19.5.2006

Guy X

19.5.2006

Highlights from the Iceland Film Festival:Hip Hop, Hora!

19.5.2006

Highlights from the Iceland Film Festival:Searching for Angela Shelton

19.5.2006

Highlights from the Iceland Film Festival:The march of the penguins

19.5.2006

Battlefield 2

19.5.2006

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

19.5.2006

PSP for Business

5.5.2006

The Reykjavík Arts Festival

7.4.2006

Flight of the Valkyries

10.3.2006

SPENCER TUNICK: BODY PUBLIC

10.3.2006

Changes to Grassroots:

For several years, the Grassroots exhibition at Nýlistasafn (the Living Arts Museum) was a ticket to local stardom for art school graduates. People would graduate, exhibit at Grassroots if they were among the chosen ones, then move on to bigger things – solo exhibitions around town, or maybe even abroad.
10.3.2006

Icelandic Cinema Grows Up

10.2.2006

A Little Trip to Heaven

10.2.2006

So More Than Karaoke

10.2.2006

Bolludagur, Sprengidagur and Öskudagur

13.1.2006

small Piece of Iceland on the Screen: Little Trip to Heaven

13.1.2006

Bezt í Heimi: The Blues Collection at the Reykjavík City Library

5.12.2005

Let Them Piss On It

For the second year in a row, Ólafur Jóhannesson won the Icelandic Film Award for best documentary of the year, this year for a comedic documentary, Africa United. Having started out in the 90s making tourist films and made-for-television movies with names like Poison, Jóhannesson is on a roll.
5.12.2005

New Twist On An Old Tradition

7.10.2005

In Case You Missed It: Michael Page at Gel Gallerí

2.10.2005

Bloody Brilliant

2.10.2005

Not a Standard Night at the Movies:

2.10.2005

Icelandic Documentaries

2.10.2005

Reykjavík Is For Lovers

Here is an excerpt from a curious letter The Grapevine received this summer. “In October 2002, my girlfriend and I embarked on an adventure to Iceland, and I had romantic intentions in mind. After our over night flight from Minneapolis, we toured through Reykjavik and the first photo we took was in front of Leifur Eiríksson. During the trip we drove up the west coast to a mountain top near Snæfellsjökull. When we hiked to the summit, I set up a camera to take a timed photo of us the instant I proposed to my wife. A year later, we were married in Leif Erickson Park here in Duluth. For our honeymoon, we hopped on a flight back to where it all started, Reykjavik and the Leifur Eiríksson statue…”
2.10.2005

Woody’s Sophomoric Slump

2.9.2005

Fearless and Original

2.9.2005

The Reykjavík Dance Festival

2.9.2005

10 Reasons to Go to the Reykjavík International Film Festival

2.9.2005

The Island Movie Review

Here is a movie about a greedy biotechnical corporation involved in the shady business of eugenics, infringing on civil rights and moral law, and advertising its products with deceit. A movie that indirectly connects Puma, MSN, Xbox, Calvin Klein, and other multinational brands with a system that facilitates the means for violating the human body. A movie that evokes pictures reminiscent of Dr. Mengels of Nazi-Germany. Is this the steaming concoction of conspiracy theorists? Not at all: this is The Island starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, a film by Hollywood’s very own Michael Bay who directed such blockbusters as Armageddon and the Rock-- ironically, sponsored by Puma, Microsoft, and Xbox.
2.9.2005

Bad for Hollywood, Good for Us

2.9.2005

There’s Nothing Wrong with a Cow on a Swing

19.8.2005

Not Just Modern, Van Halen Modern:

19.8.2005

The New Movie You’ll Be Quoting

19.8.2005

Videy: Not Just Landscape

Ellen de Jong reviews the island of Viðey and its temporary inhabitants—the artwork of Ólafur Eliasson and Richard Senna.
19.8.2005

The Reykjavík Marathon Saturday August 20th

19.8.2005

Chocolate and Family Values

5.8.2005

GAY PRIDE CELEBRATION: Saturday August 6th

5.8.2005

Come On, People. How Deep Do Your Cartoons Have to Be?

5.8.2005

Cabaret at the Icelandic Opera

5.8.2005

Shelved Books Worth a Second Look

22.7.2005

Soft Colours with Bruising:

22.7.2005

Two-Person Play “How Do You Like Iceland?”

22.7.2005

Spielberg Gets Subversive

8.7.2005

GRAPEVINE, GISP!, Gallery Lobster or Fame and JPV Publishers Present:Comics in a Bomb Shelter

8.7.2005

Raven Flies: Revenge ages well

8.7.2005

Comics Ain’t Storyboards But Sometimes They Make Decent Movies

In French and Icelandic, the words for comics suggest movies on the page, and to the naïve eye comics look like storyboards. Hollywood has more naïve eyes than anywhere else in the world, and their discovery of the comic book genre has made for hours of entertainment, and many more hours of pure torture. Here The Grapevine attempts to review movie interpretations of major American and European comics of the last few years. In a later issue, we hope to cover Japanese comics, which have had a little more success in being transferred to the big screen.
24.6.2005

The Grapevine Presents A Spoken Word Creation Written for, But Not Performed by, the President of Iceland During the 61st Celebration of Iceland’s Independence, at Austurvöllur, Reykjavík, June 17th 2005.

24.6.2005

Nei! sagði litla skrímslið (No! said the little monster)

24.6.2005

How To View the Woodcarver

24.6.2005

Gullpensillinn (The Gold Brush)

Turpentine is a relatively new gallery, opened just last February by carpenter Sveinn Thorhallsson. “I’ve been interested in art for 15 years,” he told me,”and when I saw this house I jumped for it.”
24.6.2005

Dark Horse: Boy Meets Girl Raises the Stakes in Icelandic Cinema

24.6.2005

Superhero Actors, Supervillain Script: Batman Begins

24.6.2005

Another Glacier on the Big Screen

10.6.2005

Sound of Money

10.6.2005

Snúður skiptir um hlutverk (Snúður changes roles)

10.6.2005

The Saga of Guðríður

10.6.2005

We’re Not Upset About: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

10.6.2005

CRASH

27.5.2005

Preaching History

27.5.2005

Dieter Roth

27.5.2005

Even Monty Python Jokes Get Old

27.5.2005

You May Not Want to Avoid Sin City

27.5.2005

Lucas Saves His Franchise and Reminds Us What’s Missing in Pop Cinema

27.5.2005

24-Hour Sunlight? Time for a Movie

27.5.2005

Never Poke Your Partner

“My favourite thing in stage fighting is dying - it’s not that easy,” says Ine Camilla Bjørnsten, who organizes stage fighting workshops in Iceland this spring. Ine Camilla is a freelance theatre director and leader of theatre group Teaterverket Lit in Tromsö in northern Norway. She is also a certified stage fight teacher and actively working in the Nordic Stage Fight Society. Now she is in Reykjavík and eager to show Icelanders how to kick some ass - on stage.
6.5.2005

Within the Belly of the beast - America vs. America

The American flag was flapping in the wind at the entrance of Klink & Bank. Looking closer at it I noticed that the stars had been replaced by corporate logos known to all of us. Inside I found political art at its best: thought provoking, funny, ironic and inspirational. America vs. America is an attempt shatter the illusion that all Americans are right wing neo-conservatives or a mindless flock of sheep with the glare of Fox news shining in their eyes.
6.5.2005

Maria Full of Grace: Coming to America Gets an Update

8.4.2005

God is Corruption Funny

8.4.2005

Comics: Closer than First-Person

8.4.2005

If God Were a Poet, He Would Have Created This World

Review of Brynhildur Þorgerisdóttir’s Visual World
8.4.2005

KLINK & BANK’S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY: Relevant as Ever

Despite the Fréttablaðið ad sponsored by Landsbankinn, this was an open house for and by the people who were always here anyway. But for those of us used to, if not overwhelmed by, the art in the small local studios, the music and film at K & B’s one year anniversary made for a good day out.
8.4.2005

Beyond the Sea

8.4.2005

Don’t Move

8.4.2005

Garden State

8.4.2005

Maria Full of Grace

8.4.2005

Door in the Floor

8.4.2005

I Heart Huckabees

8.4.2005

All the Art House You Can Handle

8.4.2005

Zen and the Art of Che Guevara

11.3.2005

Lights within the Bog of Cats

By Birgitta Jónsdóttir “Mýrarljós - By the Bog of Cats” by Marina Carr has it all: drama, dark humour and flawless acting. The entire frame around it simply fits the content perfectly. The dialogue is very well written and the characters so powerful that at times it reaches levels of discomfiture as they act out the basic elements of human nature, elements we sometimes would rather like to forget. The director Edda Heiðrún Backman certainly knows her craft. Every little detail has been forged with care and skill, be it movement, lights, costumes, make up or music.
11.3.2005

A UNIQUE LIFE – A UNIQUE MUSEUM

11.3.2005

Hunter S. Thompson 1937-2005

11.3.2005

Delirium Klemens no1

11.3.2005

Pick of March

11.3.2005

SONG OF THE DAMNED

11.3.2005

CACTUSMILK – Improvising the Aftermath of War

I was not expecting to see a play performed entirely in English when I went to see Cactusmilk at Klink and Bank. The dialogue of the characters, played by Sólveig Guðmundsdóttir and Maríanna Clara Lúthersdóttir, flowed smoothly. This experimental piece, by the female theatre group Garpur, worked even if they only had two weeks of preparations. The text is fused together from works by Beckett, Pinter, Sarah Kane and Matei Visniec, with the assistance of the director Graeme Maley. It is a short piece, takes only 45 minutes and has an air of freshness and boldness, tackling such matters as war and its consequences on the human soul.
11.2.2005

Echoes of the PastEchoes of the Future

After the immensely successful ‘Transforme’ show at the Parisian ‘Via’ gallery in April of last year, Páll Hjaltason and Steinunn Sigurðardóttir have been invited to present an exhibition of product design in the National Museum of Iceland that echoes the spirit of their country. The aptly entitled ‘Ómur’ (echoes) spans the entire range from fashion to furniture, architecture to amulets, and a few pieces that drift comfortably in between; each and every one of them unmistakably seeped in national tradition.
11.2.2005

Voices in the Waterfalls

11.2.2005

Winter Lights Festival

11.2.2005

The Big Picture: A Controversial Documentary Festival

11.2.2005

Hedging your bets on Bonaparte

11.2.2005

Ray: Heroin Addict, Womanizer, Musical Genius

11.2.2005

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY AND THE DECLINE OF DEMOCRACY

The entire Icelandic government gets killed off in some inexplicable terrorist act. The only man left standing is the agricultural minister, who assumes the reins of power. The US Army is about to leave the country. But as a war is impending somewhere far away, the new Prime Minister tries to negotiate support for the war in exchange for keeping the Army here.
14.1.2005

His dad’s pigs

Brain Griffin has photographed the biggest in politics, fashion and the music industry; Baroness Margaret a and Sir Paul McCartney, to name but two. But that’s not what makes him big.
14.1.2005

Will the real MARLENE DIETRICH please stand up?

Soldiers and contemporary dance. Weapon-wielding military men and purveyors of the finer arts. Maybe not a mix that springs lightly to mind, for the most of us at least. But what has Marlene Dietrich got to do with anything? And why are we all her, or she all of us?
14.1.2005

Masters of the Macabre

14.1.2005

I AM NOT GAY

February sees the European premiere of Daniel Guyton’s play I Am Not Gay at Loftkastalinn theatre. We asked the erstwhile playwright some questions.
3.12.2004

MICHAELANGELO, RODIN AND EINAR JÓNSSON

And here in Reykjavík is where I fell in love, helplessly and hopelessly. I am not a romantic child but a 68 year-old retired, reasonably realistic, somewhat mature woman who did not expect such a thing to happen. But outside my window at Guesthouse Sunna, I could see sculptures and decided to wander around the outside of the fence and see what I could see of them. I love art BUT I often feel that paintings allow me only to see what that artist saw, like looking at that subject through the artist’s eyes; sculpture, however, allows me to experience what the artist saw, to feel what they felt, to embrace what they embraced and thus to see and feel and embrace for myself - to have that same experience.
3.12.2004

A beginner´s guide to Estonian culture

3.12.2004

GUNNAR GUNNARSSONThe Forgotten Star of Icelandic Literature

Any discussion on Icelandic literature in the first half of the 20th Century will invariably throw up two names, Halldór Laxness and Þórbergur Þórðarson. Laxness needs no further introduction nor yet another mention of the fact that he won the Nobel Prize in 1956. Þórbergur Þórðarson, the enfant terrible of the 30s, has never completely gotten out of Laxness shadow, the Dali to Laxness´ Picasso, the Stones to Laxness´ Beatles, but remains widely read and respected. But at the time the biggest seller of them all, the Cliff Richard, if you will, of Icelandic literature, was Gunnar Gunnarsson.
3.12.2004

FILMING BJÖRK BEHIND THE SCENES

Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir is the woman behind the film The Inner or Deep Part of an Animal or Plant Structure that documents the year-long process of creating Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s latest release Medúlla. But she´s not done yet.
3.12.2004

Divine Fathers and Their Daughters

“Who is the father of us daughters, this Our Father, not just as in the Lord’s Prayer that we are all supposed to know by heart, but father as parent and the biggest influence in our lives?” Hlín Agnarsdóttir asks this question in her play Faðir Vor, or Our Father, now showing at Iðnó, though there’s some doubt about whether or not the question can be readily answered. The play, written specifically for the Sokkabandið theater group and developed in concert with them over the past year, exposes the well-hidden insecurities of three sisters in search of their father’s blessing, but does not offer any obvious solution to their quest. Through a series of very modern vignettes and powerful flashbacks, the sisters glide and grope their way through their common history as well as their individual recollections of the man they each call father.
3.12.2004

WIPING THE HAIR FROM YOUR EYES: Hit Shows vs. Quality Theatre

Right now there are 30 different theater productions in rotation on 14 stages in 11 venues throughout the greater Reykjavík area. At least 150 actors and probably three times that number of production staff, including directors, dramaturgs, set designers, props builders, costumers, lighting techs, sound techs and choreographers are presenting comedies, dramas, operas and musicals by foreign and local playwrites and composers.
3.12.2004

FROM TOILET CULTURE TO THE LAST FARM

Rúnar Rúnarsson holds the distinction of being co-creator with Grímur Hákonarsson of one of the first Icelandic films to be screened at a Nordisk Panorama festival in Bergen 1995 with Toilet Culture. He has directed documentaries such as Leitin að Rajeev, or Searching for Rajeev, with Birta Fróðadóttir in 2002 and his short film, The Last Farm, won the Nordic Panorama festival’s Best Film, the Best Short Film awarde and the Fipresci Jurys Diploma at the Kiev International Film Festival and an Icelandic Edda for Best Short.
5.11.2004

The Love Corporation

Passing by the huge windows of gallery i8, strangers get stunned by the three juicy angels with big décollettés and hot legs on a screen, and slow their pace to watch. The female angels start kissing each other like three Botticelli Muses, “longer than a friend’s kiss and shorter than a lover’s kiss” they call it.
5.11.2004

On graphic design and Iceland

5.11.2004

BRING ON THE ELVES: TAKING ICELAND TO PARIS

Anxious as I was – as always happens when entering the Leifur Eiríksson Airport – I was oblivious to the fact that I was surrounded by endless rows of Icelandic artists from all cultural circles. It only just hit me when I entered the plane and got the economy-class overview of my co-passengers. Apparently, they were all going to take part in The Icelandic Culture Festival in Paris. I felt rather silly - being a poet, it’s an occupational hazard - since I was the only artist on the plane who was not destined for immediate cultural greatness in the pop culture capital of the world.
5.11.2004

SWEENEY TODD in the Icelandic Opera

5.11.2004

BLACK MILK: A Revelation on the Reykjavík Stage

5.11.2004

The Swedes Take Háskólabíó

5.11.2004

SCREENSAVER: A Time to Weep, a Time to Laugh

Why, exactly, Israeli choreographer Rami Be’er’s “Screensaver” was chosen to open the Icelandic Dance Company’s 2004-2005 season at Borgarleikhúsið is not immediately obvious. After all, it’s a piece about coping with the stresses of daily life, and surely the day-to-day problems of Israelis and Icelanders are not the most similar in the world.
5.11.2004

Bitter Coffee or: The Worst Mood in the History of This Director

In what seems to be becoming an alarming trend, film director Börkur Gunnarsson explains how getting beaten up influenced his career.
5.11.2004

The Reykjavík Film Festival

8.10.2004

POLITICAL DANCING

There is plenty of energy and, dare I say it, a buzz, surrounding Íslenski dansflokkurinn, the Icelandic Dance Company. There is no shortage of female dancers but for the boys the ballet and modern dance do not seem to hold a strong appeal, even after Billy Elliot. Perhaps dancing is not considered to be macho enough for Icelandic boys, and so the company has to import male talent from elsewhere.
8.10.2004

You Can’t Take it With You

A thundering crash reverberates through the Central Gallery at Kjarvalsstaðir museum, throwing me into instant “It wasn’t me!” response. Not that I am standing anywhere near the shattered glass. It is just that while thundering crashes are not welcome in most places, they certainly are not welcome in museums and definitely not during the installation process of a piece.