Grapevine Events: Extreme Chill Festival, Hafnar.haus Anniversary, Sævar Jóhannsson & More

Sorry we didn’t bring you an events roundup last week, we were out frolicking in the woods! For real, we found an actual forest in Iceland. You can read all about it in our new issue that hits the streets tomorrow, where we regale you with our autumnal wilderness excursions. For now though, we bring you some fall weekend fun with an excellent music festival that’s sweeping the town and some very cool music-meets-art events. If none of these hit the spot for you, check out what else is happening on our events site, or let us know what you have coming up on there! Now throw on your best fall jacket and go enjoy this crispy air.

Extreme Chill Festival
September 21-24 — Multiple locations — 5.900 – 14.900 ISK
Are you getting chills from the chilly weather and needing to chill out a bit? Now is the chillest time there is, as the Extreme Chill Festival is in full swing this weekend! Bringing the ultimate quality in all things ambient, electronic and experimental, it does not get any chiller than this. With headliners Kali Malone, Gigi Masin, Puce Mary and Patricia Wolf performing along with local names like Íris Thorarins, Ronja, Sideproject, Þorsteinn Eyfjörð and way more, this year’s edition is going to go to all the extremes of chilling. Check out www.extremechill.org for the full programme and see you there! RX

Hafnar.haus Anniversary Open House
Saturday September 23 — Hafnar.haus — 15:00 — Free
Last year, the upper floors of the Reykjavík Art Museum’s iconic Hafnarhús branch were converted into a series of studio spaces and workshops under the umbrella name Hafnar.haus. Far from the average studio space, Hafnar.haus has become a bustling community filled with over 250 artists, designers, musicians, programmers, innovators, filmmakers and more, along with housing the gallery Flæði and the RVK Tool Library. This wonderful community will throw their otherwise keycard-access-only doors open for an afternoon of discovery, sharing, and celebration. RX

Sævar Jóhannsson
Saturday September 23 — Duus Museum, Keflavík — 14:00 — 3.000 ISK
Should the mood strike you to take a short day trip to Keflavík this weekend – or if you already live there – be sure to go catch pianist and composer Sævar Jóhannsson’s afternoon show. Taking place in the lovely Duus Museum, located right on the coastline of the town, Keflavík-hometown boy Sævar will be playing works from his recently released fifth album Where The Light Enters. A collection of introspective and melancholic tracks, the album is all about the contemplation of human fragility and healing, so an art museum really does seem like the perfect venue for them to be played in. Go let the light in. RX

Glassrain Series: Una Sveinbjarnardóttir
Saturday September 23 — National Gallery of Iceland — 16:00 — 2.200 ISK for adults, 1.100 for seniors & students, free for under 18
If an afternoon concert in an art museum sounds pretty good to you but you don’t have wheels to get to Keflavík, or any desire to go really, then Reykjavík’s got you covered with a good one. Acclaimed violinist Una Sveinbjarnardóttir is one of the country’s finest and most respected, having worked with the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, as well as Björk, Rammstein, Bonnie Prince Billy, and many more. She will perform a programme inside the exhibition Glassrain by Rúri, a menacing and thrilling installation of 500 razor-sharp fragments of glass suspended from the ceiling by fishing wire. Yikes, we love it! RX