Interview
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The Golden Greek
The Reykjavík International Film Festival, RIFF, begins September 25 and this year it should be bigger than ever. The Greek director and Oscar award winner Costa-Gavras will visit Icelanders and Grapevine was given to opportunity to converse with him before his arrival.…
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It´s Electric
Chris Paine is the director of the acclaimed film Who Killed the Electric Car, a documentary about the decline of technology that seems to be making a comeback in Iceland. He will be coming tp Reykjavik to speak at Driving Sustainability, an…
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Top 5´s
Gísli Galdur Gísli Galdur (left) a.k.a. DJ Magic is a notorious DJ and a musician in Reykjavík known to fire up every venue he shows up at. It isn’t easy following his enigmatic actions but these days he’s finishing recording a full…
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Machiavellian Disaster / Satanic Circus
Earlier this month, the good people of Reykjavík got to witness the swearing in of their fourth Mayor in just two years. While they generally don’t agree on why exactly this is happening, people do agree that this isn’t good. To give…
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Ten Years of Iceland Airwaves
How is this event different to how it was ten years ago? I don’t think I would have expected to be in this position ten years ago. I wasn’t sure if we’d make it through, no one really believed this had a…
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“There’s no Pressure”
The hardcore punk band Gavin Portland surprised many with their debut album, Views of Distant Towns, released last year to much critical acclaim. The album scored favourably among reviewers, both in Iceland and abroad. Now the band faces the daunting task of…
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An Ode to Marijuana
The battle between Icelandic dir-ectors is getting more and more fierce everyday but this August the half-Icelandic Parisian Sólveig Anspach defies the patriarchy prevailing in the Icelandic film scene and premiers the feature film “Back Soon”. The protagonist is a florid marijuana…
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Staying Focused
Concert promoter, bass player, social pedagogue and recently instated mayor of Dalabyggð Grímur Atlason is a true jack of all trades and has recently become a powerful spokesman for Iceland’s countryside. The Grapevine caught up with him and learned his take on…
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Marriage of Mystery
Country Wedding, a new film directed by BAFTA award-winning Icelander Valdís Óskarsdóttir, is set to be released later this summer, but the seemingly straight-forward title hides a few twists that make it one of the most interesting movies of the year. The…
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Páll Óskar is On
Reykjavík’s LBGT community is rapidly readying the 2008 GayPride extravaganza. Pop star extraordinaire Páll Óskar took time out of his busy, busy schedule to divulge some tricks for the sleeves of our Gay Pride suit. Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson (“Palli” or “Paul Oscar”)…
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The Biggest Little Pride in the World
As the controversy over gay rights continues to seethe over heatedly and caustically in the United States, like freshly expulsed volcanic lava from Mt. Hekla, here in Iceland cooler heads have prevailed and much progress has since been achieved. Way back in…
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Happily Ever After
On July 2, 2008, Katrín Þóra Víðisdóttir and Erla Björk Pálmadóttir became the first same-sex couple to be officially blessed by an Icelandic church, at Melstaðarkirkja in Miðfjörður. Víðisdóttir said it felt “very good to lead the path” and shared the details…
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Contributing to International Welfare
A few years ago, the Icelandic government decided to contribute to international peacemaking and established an organisation known as The Iceland Crisis Response Unit, ICRU . Its activity is still somewhat of a riddle to many and some of its operations have…
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Investigating The Icelander
Dublin-based artist Fergal McCarthy is currently staying in Reykjavík for a one-month artist residency. Grapevine met him at his studio, drank coffee and learnt about his two projects that both involve identity, myths, national character and cultural stereotypes in Iceland. Fergal starts…
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Three Years of Fashion
Last weekend, designer shop The Naked Ape celebrated its three-year anniversary. Owned by designer Sara María Eyþórsdóttir, the shop has made its mark in the fashion industry for its colourful designs, artistic vibe and creative energy and today ranks among the most…
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The 2 Birds Have Flown
When I tried to catch up with him I realised he was stationed in Denmark so a phone call would have to do. When a female-ish voice answered me, my first thought was that he had to be an extremely tender man.…
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Re-establishing 101 Reykjavík
It hardly went unnoticed this spring when Reykjavík’s controversial mayor, Ólafur F. Magnússon, appointed musician-slash-jack of all trades Jakob Frímann Magnússon (no relation) to the (some claim) newly created position of Reykjavík’s ‘Central City Director’. No stranger to controversy, the latter Magnússon…
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Conservation Volunteers
You might not realise when hiking in Skaftafell or climbing Mt. Esja that the trails you are walking on were all built by The Environment Agency Conservation Volunteers. Every summer, a group of international volunteers arrive in Iceland from all over the…
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The Sweaty Musical Armpit
This summer marks the advent of two exciting releases from two of the scene’s youngest and most promising rock bands. The sophomore release from Mammút, whose 2006 debut corresponds to the founding of their compeers Slugs; the debut album from the latter…
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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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Everyone’s Invited!
Galtarviti is the name of an abandoned lighthouse on the outskirts of the West Fjords. It’s just as remote as it sounds: it can only be reached via a four-hour hike, or by boat, when the tide is right. It has no…
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Re-envisioning Reykjavík’s Transit System
“See, in 1994 or 5, the city of Reykjavík had 430 cars for every thousand inhabitants. Today, there are over 700 cars for every thousand inhabitants. This means that instead of being like most Scandinavian and European cities we like to compare…
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Eco-ethics
In 1990 you wrote an essay entitled “Ethics of Nature”, where you argue that looking at nature from an anthropocentric viewpoint is unethical, and that man’s rational abilities, the “ability to conquer the earth,” places ethical obligations on us to think of…