ICELAND

ICELANDCrescent Books

Crescent BooksNew York 2012

ISBN 91-7056-087-4

HistoryEnvironmentFood & DrinkArchitectureArtsMusic

Contents 828446698

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Envi

ronm

ent

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Iceland has overwhelmed people from all over the world

with it’s great nature and pure environment. The main

island is entirely south of the Arctic Circle, which passes

through the small Icelandic island of Grímsey off the main is-

land’s northern coast. This island is the world’s 18th largest, and

Europe’s second largest island following Great Britain. The main

island is 101,826 km2, but the entire country is 103,000 km2 in

size, of which 62.7% is tundra. There are thirty minor islands in

Iceland, including the lightly populated island of Grímsey and

the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. Lakes and glaciers cover 14.3%;

only 23% is vegetated. The largest lakes are Þórisvatn, 83–88

km2 and Þingvallavatn: 82 km2, other important lakes include

Lagarfljót and Mývatn. Jökulsárlón is the deepest lake, at 248 m.

Geologically, Iceland is a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge,

the ridge along which the oceanic crust spreads and forms

new oceanic crust. In addition, this part of the mid-ocean

ridge is located atop a mantle plume causing Iceland to be

subaerial. Iceland marks the boundary between both the

Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate since it has

been created by rifting, and accretion through volcanism,

along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — where the two plates meet.

Many fjords punctuate its 4,970-km-long coastline, which

is also where most settlements are situated. The island’s in-

terior, the Highlands of Iceland, is a cold and uninhabit-

able combination of sand and mountains. The major towns

are the capital of Reykjavík, along with its outlying towns

of Kópavogur, Hafnarfjörður and Garðabær, Reykjanesbær,

where the international airport is located, and Akureyri, in

northern Iceland. The island of Grímsey on the Arctic Cir-

cle contains the northernmost habitation of Iceland. Ice-

land has three national parks: Vatnajökull National Park,

Snæfellsjökull National Park, and Þingvellir National Park.

Because of Iceland’s sparing use of hydrocarbon fuels, its air

is cleaner than that of most industrialized nations. However, its

water supply is polluted by excessive use of fertilizers. Population

increases in the cities also contribute to water pollution. Iceland

has 170 km of renewable water resources with 6% used for in-

dustrial purposes. The nation’s cities produce about 0.1 million

tons of solid waste. Industrial carbon dioxide emissions totaled

2.1 million metric tons per year in 1996. Protected lands, which

account for 9.5% of Iceland’s total land area, include four na-

tional parks, with a total area of 619,300 ha. Principal environ-

mental responsibility is vested in the Ministry of Social Affairs.

As of 2001, one mammal species and one plant species were

endangered. Endangered species include the leatherback turtle

and four species of whales. The great auk has become extinct.

The climate of Iceland’s coast is subpolar oceanic. The warm

North Atlantic Current ensures generally higher annual temper-

atures than in most places of similar latitude in the world. Regions

in the world with similar climate include the Aleutian Islands, the

Alaska Peninsula, and Tierra del Fuego, although these regions

ICELAND

30

are closer to the equator. Despite its proximity to the Arctic, the

island’s coasts remain ice-free through the winter. Ice incursions

are rare, the last having occurred on the north coast in 1969.

There are some variations in the climate between dif-

ferent parts of the island. Generally speaking, the south

coast is warmer, wetter and windier than the north. The

Central Highlands are the coldest part of the country. Low-

lying inland areas in the north are the most arid. Snow-

fall in winter is more common in the north than the south.

A geologically young land, Iceland is located on both

the Iceland hotspot and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which

runs right through it. This location means that the island

is highly geologically active with many volcanoes, notably

Hekla, Eldgjá, Herðubreið and Eldfell. The volcanic erup-

tion of Laki in 1783–1784 caused a famine that killed

nearly a quarter of the island’s population; the eruption

caused dust clouds and haze to appear over most of Europe

and parts of Asia and Africa for several months afterward.

Iceland has many geysers, including Geysir, from which the

English word is derived, and the famous Strokkur, which erupts

every 5–10 minutes. After a phase of inactivity, Geysir start-

ed erupting again after a series of earthquakes in 2000. Gey-

sir has since then grown more quiet and does not erupt often.

With the widespread availability of geothermal power, and

the harnessing of many rivers and waterfalls for hydroelectricity,

most residents have inexpensive hot water and home heat. The

island itself is composed primarily of basalt, which is a low-silica

lava associated with effusive volcanism as has occurred also in

Hawaii. Iceland, however, has a variety of volcanic types (Com-

posite- & Fissure), many producing more evolved lavas such

as rhyolite and andesite. Iceland has hundreds of volcanoes

within approx. 30 volcanic systems active. Surtsey, one of the

youngest islands in the world, is part of Iceland. Named after

Surtr, it rose above the ocean in a series of volcanic eruptions

between 8 November 1963 and 5 June 1968. Only scientists

researching the growth of new life are allowed to visit the island.

On 21 March 2010, a volcano in Eyjafjallajökull in the

south of Iceland erupted for the first time since 1821, forcing

600 people to flee their homes. Further eruptions on 14 April

forced hundreds of people to abandon their homes. The result-

ant cloud of volcanic ash brought major disruption to air travel

across Europe. Another large eruption occurred on 21 May

2011. This time it was the Grímsvötn volcano, located under

the thick ice of one of Europes largest glaciers, the Vatnajökull.

Grímsvötn is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes and this

eruption was much more powerful than the 2010 Eyjafjalla-

jökull activity. Debris was thrown 20 km up in the atmosphere

creating a large ash cloud that for a while was thought to pose

a danger to jet aircraft over a wide area of northern Europe.

“If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait five min-

utes,” people sometimes say in Iceland. This is an indication of

the strong variability of the Icelandic climate, where one may

31

occasionally experience the four seasons over a day: sunshine

and mild temperatures; windy, cool temperatures and rain;

snow and temperatures below zero degrees C. When this hap-

pens (rarely), it is an expression of the location of Iceland at the

border between Arctic and temperate seas, and between cold

air masses of the Arctic and warm air masses of lower latitudes.

Ocean currents and sea temperatures - Iceland, located at

63-67°N and 18-23°W, has considerably milder climate than

its location just south of the Arctic Circle would imply. A

branch of the Gulf Stream, the Irminger Current, flows along

the southern and the western coast greatly moderating the cli-

mate (Figure 1). The cold East Greenland Current flows west of

Iceland, but a branch of that current, the East Icelandic Cur-

rent, approaches Iceland’s northeast- and east coasts. This is re-

flected in the coastal sea surface temperatures around Iceland.

They are generally close to +2°C during the coldest months

(January-March). Sea temperatures rise to over +10°C at the

south- and west coasts of Iceland during the summer, slightly

over +8°C at the north coast, but are coolest at the east coast

where summer sea temperatures remain below +8°C. During

years with heavy sea ice off northern Iceland, sea tempera-

tures during summer can remain close to winter temperatures.

The maritime climate of Iceland – A simple classification of

Icelandic climate puts it as cool temperate maritime, reflecting

that it is very influenced by the cool ocean waters around Iceland.

A map of the annual mean temperature (Figure 2) shows that

only along the coasts of southern and southwestern Iceland do

temperatures reach 4-6°C, but are lower in other parts of the island.

Considering the northerly location of Iceland, its climate

is much milder than might be expected, especially in the

southern coastal areas, that are strongly influenced by the

warm waters of the atlantic Gulf stream. The mean annual

temperature for Reykjav�k is 5°C, the average January tem-

perature being -0.4°C and July 11.2°C. The annual rainfall

on the south coast is quite high, about 3000 mm, whereas in

the highlands north of Vatnajökull have only 400 mm or less.

The weather in Iceland is very changeable and is most-

ly influenced of the atmospheric depressions crossing the

North Atlantic, the so-called “Iceland-lows”. The passage of

a depression some distance south of Iceland causes relatively

cold and dry weather, especially in southern districts, while

one passing north-eastward between Iceland and Green-

land brings relatively mild and dry weather, especially in the

north. Gales are common among the coastal areas of Ice-

land, especially in winter. Thunderstorms are extremely rare.

Iceland’s southern and western coasts experience rela-

tively mild winter temperatures thanks to the warm waters

of the Gulf Stream. July and August are the warmest months

and, in general, the chances of fine weather improve as you

move north and east. While they’re more prone to clear

weather than the coastal areas, the interior deserts can expe-

rience other problems such as blizzards and high winds that

“If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait five minutes”

32

cause sandstorms. The weather in Iceland can change very

rapidly so don’t hesitate to check the weather forecast to see

what kind of weather to expect. In the winter you can never

be too cautious if you are planning to travel into the interior.

For two to three months in summer there is continuous day-

light in Iceland, the so-called midnight sun. During summer

the nights are bright throughout Iceland and in June the sun

in the north never fully goes down. The winter darkness (three

to four hours’ daylight) lasts from about mid-November un-

til the end of January. Another special Atmosferic Phenomena

is Aurora Borealis, the so-called northern lights. The northern

lights can mostly be seen in the autumn and winter months.

The weather in Iceland is on the whole quite change-

able and depends mostly on the tracks of the atmospheric

depressions crossing the North Atlantic. The passage of a

depression some distance south of Iceland causes relatively

cold and dry weather, especially in southern districts, while

one passing northeastward between Iceland and Greenland

brings mild weather, moderately dry in the north. Coastal

areas in Iceland tend to be windy, gales are common, es-

pecially in winter, but thunderstorms are extremely rare.

The Northern Lights are often to be seen, but it is in au-

tumn and early winter that they are mostly seen. So if you

come to see the northen lights make sure you vist Iceland

sometime during that time. It is a very fascinating experience.

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66

THE ICELANDIC NATIONAL CONCERT

AND CONFERENCE CENTRE IN REYKJAVÍKAr

chite

ctur

e

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In In April 2002, the Icelandic State and the City of Reykjavík

signed a contract to build a conference and music centre. The

two founded a private company,The East Harbour Company,

that was then given the task of arranging for the construction

and the running of the centre, in collaboration with a hotel on

the East of Reykjavik’s harbour, using a so-called private devel-

opment: i.e. that a private party should take care of the design,

construction, financing, and the running of these facilities. Be-

ing the active physical frame of a new centre for music, culture

and tourism and the home of The Iceland Symphony Orches-

tra, the building provide an excellent facility for Iceland’s con-

tinuously expanding cultural life. The architectural company

Henning Larsen Architects is the main designer behind the

sculptural new building in co operation with the Icelandic firm

Batteríið Architects. Together with Henning Larsen Architects,

the Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson has developed the building’s

charac teristic outer shell – a crystalline lattice of glass and steel.

Being one of his key interests, Elíasson has given special focus

to the dialogue between the individual and his sur roundings. In

this project, he specifically emphasises the potential for exchange

between the building, the landscape and the people living in

Reykjavík.The design is influenced by Iceland’s exceptional and

dra matic nature. Situated on the boundary between land and

sea, the building will stand out like a radiant sculpture re flecting

both sky and harbour space as well as the vibrant life of the city.

The building’s outer shell is structured in glass prisms

– or quasi bricks – imitating the prehistoric geological ba-

salt formations shaped by lava meeting glaciers. On the

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70

build ing’s southern façade the quasi bricks appear in 3D scale as

if newly broken off from a mountain or a glacier tongue, while

on the remaining sides they are shown in a crosscut pattern.

The glass prisms capture and reflect the light, mirroring the

day and the seasons like ‘a calendar of light’. With the con-

tinually changing landscape, the building will reveal it reveal

it self in an endless variety of colours – from glowing red to

indigo blue. As the sun accentuates the details in light and

shadow, the building will allude to the warm golden colours

of glowing lava or to the ice blue glaciers of winter, provid

ing the onlooker with a sensuous feeling of continuous change.

Batteríið Architects have won numerous awards for their

outstanding design, including the extension for the Icelandic

Parliament. The firm works internationally in close cooperation

with contractors and renowned architects and engineers

in the Nordic countries, North America, and Australia.

Danish-Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson designed the south

facade and developed the principle for the remaining north/

east/west facades and roof in collaboration with Henning Lars-

en Architects and Batteríið Architects. Elíasson deploys light,

colour, and natural phenomena to test how physical movement,

sensual engagement, and the interaction of body and brain in-

fluence our perception of our surroundings. The US consult-

ing firm Artec in New York is responsible for acoustics, sound

isolation, and design of the theatre and sound equipment.

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76

REYKJAVIK ART MUSEUM

77

The beautiful Reykjavík Art Museum (RAM) was

founded in 1973. It is the largest visual art institution in

Iceland. The museum is situated at three different locations

in the city: the Kjarvalsstadir exhibition hall at Miklatún, in-

augurated in 1973, where the main emphasis is on paintings

and sculpture by well established artists; Hafnarhus, located in

downtown Reykjavik, inaugurated in 2000, which serves as the

museums institute of contemporary art, where new develop-

ments in art are explored; and the Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculp-

ture Museum and Park at Sigtún, inaugurated in 1991, which

is dedicated to the work of the sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson.

In its 3.000 sq. meters of exhibition space, RAM pre-

sents over 20 exhibitions annually, varying from large-scale,

thematic exhibitions to installations by international art-

ists and projects by emerging Icelandic artists. The exhibi-

tions are intended for the general public and people with

general interest in the visual arts. Catalogues or books

are published in conjunction with major exhibitions.

Reykjavik Art Museum is located in three different buildings,

Hafnarhús on the waterfront, Kjarvalsstaðir on the Miklatún park

and the Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum near Laugardalur.

Hafnarhus, located in downtown Reykjavik, serves as the

Reykjavik Art Museum’s institute of contemporary art. New

developments in art are explored through diverse exhibitions of

Icelandic and international artists. An exhibition of paintings

by the Pop artist Erró is a permanent feature. Hafnarhús has a

restaurant with a beautiful view over the harbour. There is a se-

lection of foreign and local newspapers, art magazines and pro-

fessional journals. The Hafnarhús shop offers local and foreign

books about works of art and exhibition programmes, pub-

lished by the museum, in addition to postcards and art posters.

Kjarvalsstaðir is mainly devoted to paintings and sculpture

by well established Icelandic and international artists. It offers

a permanent exhibition of key works by one of Iceland’s most

beloved landscape painters, Jóhannes S. Kjarval (1885–1972), as

well as changing exhibitions that explore various thematic and

historical aspects of Icelandic art. Kjarvalsstaðir has a bright

and spacious restaurant with a wonderful view of the museum

grounds (Miklatún). The Kjarvalsstaðir shop offers books and

exhibition catalogues in English about Icelandic art, in addition

to postcards and art posters. Kjarvalsstaðir was commissioned

in 1966 and christened in 1973, the first building in Iceland

specifically designed for visual art exhibitions. The architect is

Hannes Kr. Davíðsson. Kjarvalsstaðir features exhibitions from

its Kjarval Collection as well as diverse temporary exhibitions.

Jóhannes S. Kjarval (1885-1972) holds a special place in Icelandic

art history and culture, as one of Iceland’s most beloved artists.

The Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum is dedi-

cated to the works of sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893-

1982). Opened in 1983, the collection is housed in a unique

Architecture

98

Arts

HRAFNHILDUR ARNADOTTIR

“I think the mostbeautiful element in

the world is the pure desire to decorate and

beautify yourself.”-Hrafnhildur Arnadottir

Imaginary Friends

99

Shoplifters’ work has been shown and

published all over the world, especially

in New York City where she lives with

her family. Her body of work as a

whole exists in the gray area between

visual art, performance, and design.

Shoplifter has worked for several

years exploring the use and symbolic

nature of hair, and its visual and artistic

potential. For Shoplifter hair is the ulti-

mate thread that grows from our body.

Hair is an original, creative fiber, a way

for people to distinguish themselves

as individuals, and often an art form.

Humor plays a large roll in her life

and work, sometimes subtly, but other

times taking over. This humor extends

to her love of playing with the juxtapo-

sition of opposites. Like with her hair

pieces- they appear beautiful evoking

natural forms and plant life, but at the

same time hair is considered grotesque

and disturbing when it is not attached

to the body, like hair in the shower drain.

While hair is her most commonly

used material she has never been limited

to any one material or category of art.

She loves to study all possible channels

and use any material that a project calls

for that at first might not seem to have a

connection to visual art, but leads there

in the end. She uses traditional handcraft

techniques like knitting, weaving, and

braiding to create new forms of textiles,

while referring to established methods

in art. She is attracted to the playfulness

found in folk art, naïvism, and handi-

craft which all have a strong influence

on her organic process of creating work.

Her work is simultaneously comical,

romantic, silly and beautiful with the

theme of vanity as a connecting thread.

Through the ages people have been so

imaginative in the way they make beau-

tiful things for themselves and others

by using materials from their nearby

environment. This aspect present in

every culture, whether driven by van-

ity and narcissism or a simple desire

for beauty, is vanity in its best form.

By basing her works on human hair,

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, a.k.a. Shop-

lifter, has set her mark on the art world.

More than base material, the symbolic

world and meaning of hair are an inte-

gral aspect of her visual creation. While

constituting a vital part of our iden-

tity, and inextricably linked to ideas of

vanity and attractiveness, hair can also

stir unease – an indispensable device

for conjuring dark imagery and dread-

ful characters surrounded by mystique.

That fine thread, hair, is ever more

apparent in the works of Arnardóttir.

She has collaborated with numerous

prominent designers and artists, since

Harmonic Hairdo

100

her works exemplify the three pillars

of fashion: sophistication, provocation

and excess. The last one can often be

attributed to profound personal inter-

pretation of artists and designers, where

absolute control over fabric, color and

form is achieved. Arnardóttir is very

popular within the fashion world, for

example teaming up with renowned

New York based stylist Edda Gud-

mundsdóttir. Furthermore, her collabo-

ration with Björk for the cover of her

album Medulla, is exemplary of the way

her art and design transcends genres.

Arnardóttir’s clothing, masks and

sculptures are unquestionably made

from unconventional material, there-

by answering the growing demand

for recycling and eco-consciousness.

Moreover, her works shed light on

society’s ambiguous boundaries. The

norms and customs of one culture can

be rejected elsewhere; the concept of

the beautiful and the grotesque, and

the path that connects them, is often

paved with lightheartedness and humor.

or several years Shoplifter has worked

exploring the use and symbolic nature

of hair, and its visual and artistic poten-

tial. It started as a discovery in an an-

tique shop, a lock of hair encased as a

keepsake and shaped as a flower, and has

since evolved as an exploration of hair’s

meaning - from strength, self-image and

beauty, to vanity, decoration and fash-

ion. Against the backdrop of darkness,

the gallery is transformed to the lair

of a wild and hairy mythical bear. The

creature emerges from the floor, like an

old colonial tiger rug, conjoined to the

base of a pronged lightning tree. Com-

batting the beast is a shield of hair, a

protective forcefield or ‘hair-field’, a

backdrop of a shimmering waterfall-

cum-yeti, drawing on the element of the

freaky fairytale, and recalling Rapunzel

with her flowing cascades. The scene is

cartoon-like, but full of raw energy and

unpredictable and unexpected narrative.

Visually, hair being a vital and fas-

cinating aspect of identity and the in-

dividual, Shoplifter seeks to ask what

extent it can be used as a material to

reflect this. “I am occupied with hu-

man behaviour, how the environment

affects us and where we get our ideas

of who and how we are as individuals.”

As such the bear is given a badly styled

haircut, instantly transforming it into

a ‘vanity beast from hell.’ A reflection

of self, hair holds the essence of em-

powerment of the individual - angered

that someone has attacked its prowess

and virility, the bear would also not

be so powerful, if it were not so hairy.

In the window of the gallery, a sprawl-

ing combustion of colours invites the

viewer to enter a ring of fire, as they step

into the darkened room before coming

face to face with the beast. This firewall

of hair is complex and interweaving, as

various coloured plaits and ropes en-

twine and writhe with each other, the

colour scheme of red, orange, white and

yellow evoking the sun in a fireball of

fibres. This work follows from a collabo-

ration last year which resulted in a huge

installation of brightly coloured hair

in the window of MoMA, New York.

Shoplifter comes from a background in

painting, the brushstrokes now replaced

with the organic textures of fibre, and

the ego-expressionistic gesture with

the feminine craft and care of weav-

ing; the blocks of colour expressed not

through paint but strands and strands

of coloured synthetic hair. Working also

in the two dimensional, a wall-piece

here explores painterly aspects of ab-

straction and colour through composi-

tion and form, dictated by the colour

of the hair in its geometric arrange-

ment as it is strung across the gallery.

The belief that an obsession with

hair and appearance is a vanity is often

subverted in her work, hence the exces-

sive abundance of hair transformed into

a thing of beauty, or the amplification

of a traditional braid into miles and

miles of intricate and seductive tapes-

try. “Vanity is to a different extent on

the surface of my work and sometimes

101

it appears only vaguely or in an abstract

way, but it plays a role whether it is vis-

ible in the work or only in the air when

I make it. [...] I really respect the hu-

man need to decorate oneself and one’s

environment, be it driven by vanity

and obsession or sincere love for beauty,

which in and of itself is vanity at its best.”

The creation of mythical and fantasy

characters, as in the bear and its hairy

tableaux, also reflects other contempo-

rary Icelandic artists’ utilisation of sto-

ries and landscapes to create a personal

symbolism, echoed in the work of her

contemporary Gabriela Fridriksdottir,

and seen in the influence of the coun-

try on artists such as Matthew Barney.

The nature of hair being both natural

and artificial, brings a duality to pro-

ceeding, the real is a harness of a pre-

cious, fragile and personal material, the

synthetic synonymous with wigs, char-

acters and fake appearances that could

be deceptive. The inability to tell real

from fake also lends a sense of mystery

and curiosity. The hair is at once a hu-

man and real entity as well as a fantasy

on which to project out human fascina-

tions and rituals. Though her Shoplifter

moniker has little to do with klepto-

maniac tendencies, it however does

lend itself rather well to the anarchy

in creativity present in the exhibition.

“Vanity is to a different extent on the surface of my work and sometimes it appears only vaguely or in an abstract way, but it plays a role whether it is vis-ible in the work or only in the air when I make it. [...] I really respect the human need to decorate oneself and one’s environment, be it driven by vanity and obsession or sincere love for beauty, which in and of itself is vanity at its best.”

120

SRULI RECHT

Arts

121

Sounds like

Sruli Recht’s projects span Fashion

Design, Custom-Tailoring, Illustration

and Industrial Design - a fact which of-

ten makes it hard to define his work in

any simplified way. Seemingly self-aware

of this fact, during a 2006 collaboration

with Nimrod Weis of ENESS Design

Recht published a statement to try and

better define the motivations behind his

work from then on called Non-Products:

“‘Non-Products’ - A specially made low

run piece, either hand tooled or ma-

chine made, that would lose its con-

text as a mass produced item, and is

not viable to produce in large quanti-

ties. And/or An item that is in concept

stage as a byproduct of the previous.”

Recht began producing commercial

work as early as 1998, establishing a stu-

dio in the Melbourne suburb of Colling-

wood where he worked through the turn

of the century primarily in the realm of

fashion. Based in Melbourne his work

centered around made-to-measure cus-

tom pieces however over this period he

had already begun experimenting in

more industrial design oriented pro-

jects including the controversial Um-

buster - an Umbrella with a handle that

also doubled as a Knuckle-duster. At

the end of 2001 Sruli Recht formed ST

Collaborate - a custom tailored futur-

ist clothing label, with Timothy Trop -

which, over a period of 3 years showed

small collections and highly experimen-

tal show pieces including a sheepskin

coat that fastened together with com-

bination locks, shirts with magnetic

buttons and a leather corrective neck-

brace with automotive hydraulic piston.

In 2005 Recht left Australia to Lon-

don England where he worked over 3

seasons with British designer Alexander

McQueen in his Amwell St studios, cut-

ting patterns and constructing catwalk

showpieces. Following this period Sruli

Recht relocated to Reykjavik Iceland.

Now based in Reykjavik his work

continues along lines of blurred rela-

tionships between various schools of

Design - fashion/industrial etc. and

whose byproducts have a darker ironic

and aggressive subtext relating to social

dis/function and sustainability. Exam-

ples of this include the production of a

full-sized Polar Bear skin fashioned out

of 15 Icelandic sheepskins, a buckle-less

belt eliminating the need to remove it

at airport security or a limited-edition

run of bulletproof Handkerchiefs made

of Kevlar—all thinly veiled social com-

mentaries and primarily focused on de-

sign and concept rather than mass pro-

150

“For a person asobsessed with music

as I am, I always heara song in the back of

my head. All the time.And that usually is my

own tune. I’ve done that all my life.”

- Björk

151

Music

BJÖRK Björk was born and raised in Reykjavík.

Her father, Guðmundur Gunnars-

son, a union leader and electrician,

and her mother, Hildur Rúna Hauks-

dóttir, an activist who protested

against Kárahnjúkar, a controversial

hydro-electric development in Iceland.

Her musical career began when

she was eleven with her study of clas-

sical piano in elementary school. One

of her instructors sent a recording of

Björk singing Tina Charles’ song “I

Love to Love” to RÚV, then the only

radio station in Iceland. The record-

ing was broadcast on radio nationally;

after hearing it, a representative of the

record label Fálkinn contacted Björk

to offer a record contract. An album,

Björk, was recorded and released in 1977.

In her teens, Björk was influenced

by punk; at 14 she formed the all-girl

punk band Spit and Snot, shortly fol-

lowed by the jazz fusion group Exodus

in 1979. In 1980 she graduated from

music school. In 1981 she and bass-

ist Jakob Magnússon formed another

band called Jam-80, which later be-

came Tappi Tíkarrass (which means

“Cork the Bitch’s Ass” in Icelandic),

and released an extended single, “Bítið

Fast í Vítið” in the same year. Their

album, Miranda, was released in 1983.

Björk collaborated with Einar Örn

Benediktsson and Einar Melax from

Purrkur Pillnikk, and Guðlaugur Óttar-

sson, Sigtryggur Baldursson, and Birgir

Mogensen from Þeyr. After writing songs

and rehearsing for two weeks, the new

band, KUKL (“sorcery” in Icelandic),

developed a sound described as Gothic

rock. Björk began to show indications

of her trademark singing style, which

was punctuated by howls and shrieks.

KUKL toured Iceland with anarchist

UK punk band Crass, and later visited

the UK in a series of performances with

Flux of Pink Indians. They produced

two albums as a result of these collabora-

tions: The Eye in 1984, and Holidays in

Europe in 1986, both on Crass Records.