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How It’s Made: The Sense of Wonder in Fischersund No. 23
“Smoke in the air and tarred telephone poles, tall freshly mowed grass, and tobacco leaves. Dead flowers bow to the ground. In the breeze, the feminine fountain pine tickles the top of your skull. A beached whale is about to explode.” Dead…
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Learning When To Clap at Tertulia x Reykjavík
Music and dining bring to mind bored jazz bands playing to an equally uninterested audience — or worse, solo crooners trying to focus in a cutlery clattered hall. Still, when I first heard about Tertulia coming to Iceland, I was intrigued. Chamber…
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Track By Track: TRPTYCH’s “Inner Terrestrial MMXXIII a.D.”
TRPTYCH is the solo project of electronic musician, drummer and designer, Daníel Þorsteinsson. A prolific artist, he has been releasing music — at least once a year — since 2016. His latest album, ‘Inner Terrestrial MMXXIII a.D.’ is a sprawling journey of…
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King of the Mundane: Prins Póló is the Grapevine’s Musician of the Year
The Reykjavík Grapevine’s Musician of the Year, Svavar Pétur Eysteinsson — better known by his stage persona, Prins Póló — died on the 29th of September, 2022. He was 45 years old. A proud native of Breiðhólt, Svavar first made his debut…
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Track by Track: Hekla, “Xiuxiuejar”
Theremin virtuoso Hekla’s album ‘Xiuxiuejar’ was released in September 2022 has just been named Album of the Year in the 2023 Grapevine Music Awards. Why? Well, it’s brilliant. You might think that the mix of theremin, vocals and cello would be a…
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Holy Shit! It’s The 2023 Grapevine Music Awards!
What will 2022 be remembered for? If 2020-2021 were “the lost years,” where artists went insular and mused on solitude and resilience, then 2022, in comparison, was the year of fresh starts; a cautious but joyful movement towards normality. Larger-scale live events…
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In The Beginning Was The Word: Halldór Ragnarsson Searches For Meaning Through Repetition
“Do you see a paintbrush here?” artist Halldór Ragnarsson asks. He is buzzing around his studio in Skeifan, seemingly fuelled in equal parts by creativity, caffeine and ADHD. We hunt for the missing object, which I swear was in his hand just…
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Great Moments In Icelandic History: Flatus Lifir Enn
Probably The World’s Longest Running Fart Joke On the road between Reykjavík and the North stands a wall that should be entirely non-descript. The vertical expanse of concrete was erected in the 1970s to protect the nearby section of Route 1 from…
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The Islanders: Einar Sigurður Einarsson, The Microgreens Dealer
In an inconspicuous shipping container down by Heimaey’s harbour in Vestmannaeyjar, Einar Sigurður Einarsson conducts his work. Step inside the metal box and you are transported to a high-tech world of LED lights and trays upon trays of tiny plants. You’ll hear…
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Track by Track: ‘Repeat’ by Brynja
Budding pop singer-songwriter Brynja will soon be blessing us with her debut album, ‘Repeat.’ Inspired by contemporary themes such as climate anxiety and social justice—as well as that familiar old chestnut, love—it’s truly an album for our times. We asked Brynja to…
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Desert Island Dishes: MATEY Food Festival Proves Vestmannaeyjar Is The Food Capital Of Iceland
Think of Icelandic food culture, and few things spring to mind—and not all of them pleasant. Sheep heads, salted cod, fermented shark, brennivín; for centuries food consumption in Iceland reflected the reality of living on an isolated wind-blown island in the middle…
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Track by Track: ‘Everything I Know About Love’ by Laufey
Laufey’s star is rising so fast we can barely keep up. From being lauded by Billie Eilish to performing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”—all at just 23 years old—it’s fair to say that the singer-songwriter has made quite an impact since bursting onto…
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A Life, Curated: At 80 Sigurður Guðmundsson Is Just Getting Started
The artist Sigurður Guðmundsson is preoccupied with pouring a bottle of beer into a glass. He watches the rim intently, anticipating how much he can add before the point of no return. I comment that I will have to drink it directly…
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Perfect Day: Snæi Jack
Snæbjörn Helgi Arnarsson Jack wears many hats—broadcaster, musician and community organiser, to name but a few. His perfect day in Reykjavík involves inclement weather, the best lunch deal in town, and a sneaky rooftop spot. A-type ideals I wake up in my…
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All Under One Roof: Food Halls Are Reykjavík’s New Dining Obsession
If you have traversed downtown Reykjavík in recent months, you will have undoubtedly noticed multiple areas of construction disrupting the city. What might surprise you is just how many of these building sites are the locations of new mathöll—food halls in English.…
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Beyond Language: Theatre Production ‘Umbra’ Speaks to Audiences Without Words
Finding English-language theatre performances in Iceland has always presented a challenge, but a new production at Tjarnarbíó seeks to bypass the issue of language altogether—by not including any. ‘Umbra’ (‘Hríma’ in Icelandic) is described by its creators as a “visually pleasing tragi-comedy,”…
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The Islanders: Brynjar Karl Birgisson, The Lego Kid
In many ways, Brynjar Karl Birgisson is your average 19 year old. He studies at a menntaskóli, where he is learning to play bass guitar. He loves classic rock: AC/DC, Guns and Roses, Deep Purple—today he is wearing a Whitesnake hoody. He…
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“I Live A Really Normal Life”: Björk On New Album ‘Fossora’ And Being A ‘Cool Mom’
On a chilly Friday afternoon in late August, in an otherwise empty Reykjavik restaurant, Björk Guðmundsdóttir is having trouble focussing. “My eyes are going all over the place looking at the people, I can’t concentrate,” she complains jovially, getting up to switch…
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Icelandic Love Stories: There Is Nothing Simple About The Icelandic Love Story
Icelanders are perhaps not the most romantic people in the world, but underneath our cold exterior, our amorous hearts still beat loudly to the rhythm of our Viking ancestors… or something like that. Icelandic authors have written excellent love stories over the…
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What’s Cooler Than Being Cool? Extreme Chill Festival Is A Celebration Of Subculture Specificity
Extreme Chill Festival co-founder Pan Thorarensen sure has a lot of plates spinning. Sitting in latest venture, Space Odyssey—a record store, venue and vintage clothing shop on Skólavörðustígur—he exudes calm and warmth while listing his various projects. In addition to the shop,…
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Riff It Up And Start Again: Reykjavík International Film Festival Welcomes Arthouse Cinema To Iceland
Cannes, Berlin, Venice… Reykjavík? Our petite, northern city might not be the first to spring to mind when it comes to cinema, but for 19 years now the people behind the Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) have been doing their darndest to…
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Weaving Through Time: ‘A Rainbow Thread’ Highlights Queer History In Iceland
“Who belongs to the Icelandic nation?” the opening page of ‘A Rainbow Thread’ asks. The pamphlet is the physical version of a guide created by the National Museum of Iceland in collaboration with Samtökin ’78, The National Queer Organisation of Iceland. In…
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Choose Wisely: ‘A Study Of Choices’ Wins The RVK Fringe Grapevine Award
Reykjavík Fringe is over for another year: the hubbub around Tjarnarbíó has died down, the flurry of wrist-banded guests marching around 101 have dispersed. Multitudes of posters advertising shows flap impotently in Iðnó. But even with the dust settled, there is still…
