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Fear and Loathing in Reykjavík
In our constant quest to help you, the average consumer, we sometimes have to dive deep into the denizens’ of Reykjavík’s underbelly. This article is the chronicle of one of those dangerous journeys. What started as a rather mediocre joke about visiting…
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French Fries and Religious Symbols
“My work is modern, it’s funny but it’s also very spiritual. It’s a play of many things blending,” says South East Asian-American artist Namita Kapoor. On July 5, she will open her first solo exhibition in Iceland at Gallery Gel, located on…
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Loads of Visual Fun!
The second issue of Rafskinna DVD Magazine was released on July 3, stuffed with all kinds of visual entertainment. Published by Rasskinn ehf, the magazine, which is the only one of its kind in Iceland, brings together a group of local and…
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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. I had made an appointment with one…
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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. Set inside one of the oldest houses in downtown Reykjavík, a 19th century stable to be…
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Documenting Icelandic Culture
After two years on the making, Project: Iceland, a new book by the English fashion and music photographer Charlie Strand, featuring the cutting-edge in Icelandic music, art and fashion today has finally been released. The book includes interviews and detailed bios of…
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June 17
As a foreigner covering June 17th, I came with the intent of truly finding the holiday. What was its core? Where did its spirit lie? With hot dog in hand, I set off on my hunt, which soon degenerated into aimless wandering.…
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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. The store is entitled Birkiland and stocks a nice selection…
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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. Themes…
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Shit, Piss, Vomit and Blood. And Cum
Cartoonist Hugleikur Dagsson needs no introduction to regular readers of the Grapevine, as he used to contribute regularly to the magazine in the past. Although it’s been a while since Dagsson’s perverted stick figures have appeared in this publication, he wants for…
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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,…
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Experimental Museum
The annual Reykjavík Arts Festival is just behind the corner and as usual, the Reykjavík Art Museum will present a packed programme for the occasion. One of the festival’s highlights is the Experiment Marathon Reykjavik, an exhibition and program of various events,…
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Interpreting the Icelandic Psyche
“My pictures are silent descriptions, staging melancholy, fragility and nobleness of the ordinary life,” says French photographer Thomas Humery. On May 16, he will open his first solo exhibition in Iceland at the National Museum. Entitled ‘In the Mist’, the exhibition features…
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Calling Vatnajökull
You are bound to listen carefully. The drip, crack, splash, plop and clack of icebergs melting echoes down the phone line, leaving the listener to conjure up images of the depths of the glacial lagoon, where the sounds emerge from. The sound…
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Art n’ Roll
Egill Sæbjörnsson is one of Iceland’s leading young artists. For the past nine years, he has been based in German’s creative capital Berlin, lived in Rio de Janeiro and travelled the globe to exhibit his curious and often humorous creations. At Gallery…
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Back to the Beginning
American artists Marguerite Keyes and Scott Alario recently opened an exhibition at Gallery Lost Horse on Skólastræti 1, a small side-street off Bankastræti. Entitled, ‘We Filled Our Pockets Up,’ the exhibition is their first collaborative exhibition in Iceland but the artists, who…
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Birgir Andrésson (1955-2007)
One of Iceland’s most respected visual artists, Birgir Andrésson, died this October 24 at 52 years old. Born in the Westmann Islands in 1955, Andrésson went on to study visual arts at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts and then received a…
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The MOMS Parade
The audience squirted ketchup on us, threw oatmeal and dog food at us and screamed in anger. We weren’t sure if they were trying to complement our work or if they really hated it,” explains Morri, one of three members of artist…
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Reykjavík 871±2
In 2001, an archaeological excavation in Aðalstræti led to the discovery of an ancient longhouse dating from around 871 AD (plus or minus two years.) This longhouse is believed to be one of the first houses built in Reykjavík. The decision was…
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The Sequences Art Festival
“We’re putting emphasis on time-based art in unconventional places,” says Andrea Maack, project manager for the Sequences “real-time art festival” taking place between October 12–21 in downtown Reykjavík. “We’re encouraging artists to think outside the box and outside the gallery, and have…
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Singing Painting at Nylo
Can you start by explaining what this exhibition is all about? Ragnar: The exhibition is named ‘God’. The walls inside Nylo are going to be covered with pink satin and in the end of the room will be the video, which features…
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Awakening the Couch Potatoes
In retrospect Iceland has never lacked activism, and many prideful moments of Icelandic history are examples of social disobedience. In medieval times it was the “heathen folk” denying Christianity, later students and townsfolk arguing for the country’s sovereignty, and later on our…
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An Everyday Extraordinary
“Every time she saw me she laughed,” says Mary Ellen Mark smiling at one of her large framed black and white photographs hanging in the National Museum gallery. “I guess she found me pretty funny.” Mark’s latest photographic exhibition, titled “Extraordinary Child,”…