Grapevine Picks: Dieter Roth, Winter Lights And Jazzy Nights

Every week we take you, gentle reader, by the hand and lead you out of your cosy accommodation into the frosty Reykjavík air. There’s a whole world of Icelandic culture out there which doesn’t involve puffin shops, pylsa stands or penis museums, so go and grab it! (We mean the culture, not the… oh, never mind).

Ljósabasar

Until December 19th

Nýló—The Living Art Museum

More information here

Photo Petter Spilde

For the third year in a row, Nýló—The Living Art Museum—celebrates the shortening of the day by honoring the light. This year’s show features works, from some 60 artists, which are all connected to light in the broadest sense of the word. Light makes the world visible and thus leads us on to various destinations, deep-rooted and real, high-pitched and poetic, fabricated and distorted. JP

Jazzbað

December 14th

Bodega

More information here

Photo by Miti

Bodega, the much-beloved wine bar in the heart of Reykjavík, is hosting its monthly jazz night again, free of charge. There’s no better way to spend your Tuesday evening than listening to some smooth sounds accompanied by a glass or two of the best wines you can get in Iceland. RH

Dieter Roth

December 9th to January 29th

i8 Gallery

More information here

Photo i8

German-born artist Dieter Roth moved to Reykjavík in the 1950s to marry a local lady and, being one of Europe’s leading postwar artists, he inevitably had a strong effect on Icelandic creative culture. “Mulitmedia” is a particularly apt word to use when describing his output, with chocolate, fruit and rabbit poop all being pressed into service as creative material in various works. This exhibition promises no messy misappropriations of organic matter, but it does offer some of the artist’s finest pieces with a focus on sculpture and paper media. JP

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