Grapevine Picks: GusGus, International Cinema and an Immersive Experience

The Grapevine brings you the pick of what’s up in town this week. We’ve got an amazing light and sound installation featuring the music of Högni Egilsson, electronic music legends GusGus celebrate their quarter-century with a huge gig, and the Stockfish Film Festival serves up the freshest international cinema.

For even more ideas of what to do, have a browse through our latest paper issue…

Circuleight

Until May 31st

Harpa

More information here

Walk into the light…

This immersive light and sound installation is inspired by elements of natural Iceland: lava, basalt, glaciers, water, flora, algae, microorganisms and volcanic gas. Visuals are provided by American arts organisation Artechouse, accompanied by an original score from Icelandic musical polymath Högni Egilsson.

Circuleight is open from 12:00 until 18:00 every day, and takes around 20 minutes to experience.

GusGus – 25 Years

March 18th and 19th at 20:00 and 22:30

Harpa

More information here

Daníel hits a high… photo by Matthew Eisman

The legendary musical collective celebrate a quarter-century of existence with four separate shows at Harpa. Actually their 25-year anniversary was more like 2020, but due to pandemic shenanigans this live celebration has been hopping around the GusGus dairy like a frog in a sock. Hopefully—this time!—it will stay put.

Mainstays Biggi and Daníel will be joined by (relatively) new recruit Margrét Rán, and other friends from the GusGus universe.

Stockfish Film Festival

March 24th to 3rd April

Bíó Paradís

More information here

My Year of Dicks

Reykvíkingar love a good film festival, and this little beauty flickers into life on the city’s main screen next week. Now in its eighth year, Stockfish—with its stated aspiration to “encourage collaboration between domestic and international film communities”—easily stands tall next to its big sister, The Reykjavík International Film Festival.

There will understandably be much interest around the showing of Ukrainian film ‘Klondike’, which has already won awards at both the Sundance and Berlin International film festivals this year. Set in the 2014 conflict in eastern Ukraine which foreshadowed the current Russian invasion, the film follows a heavily pregnant Ukrainian woman as the calamities of war close in around her. Leading Actress Oksana Cherkashyna will attend the screening, and answer questions afterwards.

Other attractions include the premiere outing of ‘My Year Of Dicks’, an animated coming-of-age comedy directed by Reykjavík native Sara Gunnarsdóttir, who will do a Q&A after the screening.

And representing our fellow North Atlantic denizens in the Faroes, Trygvi Danielsen presents his film ‘111 Good Days’. It features two very different characters who keep running into each other in strange situations, only to discover later that they’re connected by an unknown force. Trygvi, who currently studies at the University Of Iceland, will be present to chat about the film after the screening.

We have over 60 kinds of Icelandic candy in our store! How is it different? Well, see for yourself! Icelanders love mixing flavours, and the results are magical.