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. Bearing the theme ‘Reflections,’ Rafskinna MK 3 hit stores last month and one can tell at a glance that all the hard work has paid off, as the gold encrusted ten-inch sleeve that houses it is brimming with curious content. We called up Sigurður Magnús Finnsson from the Rafskinna team and got him to tell us a little bit about the latest edition, where it comes from, what it means and what’s in it.
“Rafskinna,” says Finnsson when asked to elaborate, “is a DVD magazine that contains short films, documentaries, music videos, interviews, performance art, and the like, as well as some printed materials. The latest issue also contains an audio CD – Rafsprengi – that we made in cooperation with radio show Hlaupanótan. It features four Icelandic musicians of the younger generation, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Kippi Kanínus, for instance, recreating compositions by four older masters, among them Atli Heimir Sveinsson and Jórunn Viðar.
“We aim at presenting a broad spectrum of work and ideas; Icelandic, foreign, large, small, every possible aspect of the visual arts, while maintaining a red thread by keeping focus on things that are grassroots oriented. And of course we have a running theme for each issue. Aside from the DVD, we try and fit extras in with each issue, there’s always some bonus materials. This time around there’s the Rafsprengi CD, as well as a poster by Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir (Shoplifter), who is this issue’s featured artist.”
-Tell us about issue three’s featured content.
“Well, to name a few things, we take Emiliana Torrini on a ride around Kópavogur, get Dälek to recycle old Icelandic pancake recipes, there’s two video pieces by the aforementioned Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, videos of Ólöf Arnalds and Retro Stefson. We got Nico Muhly to compose a piece for us, it’s performed by Helgi Hrafn Jónsson on the construction site of the forthcoming music hall.”
-You guys seem really ambitious. Has everything been working out financially? Making a magazine like this can’t be cheap.
“It’s rough. We work hard at selling them, just so we can afford to make the next one. It’s a struggle, like a lot of these things are in this country. But we are distributing abroad now, this issue is being sold in stores in Europe and the US.”
Any more cool things coming from you guys?
“Yes, lots of stuff. More on that later.”
Expect a full review of Rafskinna three in a forthcoming issue of the Grapevine. Get it at cool bookstores and other stores that are cool.
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