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Click on the picture to watch the opening act of the 2011 Reykjavík Arts Festival when the Catalonian multi-artistic group La Fura dels Baus practiced acrobatics on Austurvöllur square in central Reykjavík on May 21, assisted by more than 60 Icelandic volunteers.
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Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
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An archeological find in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula (close to Keflavík Airport) may indicate that some men had started to come to Iceland before the year 874 AD, the year that has traditionally been considered the first year Nordic men came to Iceland to stay.
Archeologist dr. Bjarni F. Einarsson says that research at Hafnir indicate ruins of a cabin (Icelandic: Skáli) built well before the traditional year of origin of settlement.
“Usually when we find a cabin in Iceland we assume it is an ordinary farm, but then you should find outhouses as well. A thorough search by various means no other houses are found near the cabin and that makes one wonder what type of house it may have been.”
Einarsson adds in an interview with Fréttabladid that C14 analysis indicates that the cabin was deserted between the years 770 to 880 AD, which seems to indicate that it was built “well before the ‘historical first settlement” in the year 874.
Einarsson says that his working theory is that it was an outpost from Northern Europe, Scandinavia or the British isles. Those men came to utilize the resources in Iceland: Birds, eggs, fish, whales and not least walrus teeth.
In Einarson’s view this means that settlement in Iceland developed from being an outpost, habited only part of the year into permanent settlement. “This replaces the myth of a long haired, angry king in Norway that drove the upper class to Iceland. It is complete gibberish and romanticized view of our origins that Icelanders are part of the Scandinavian upper class.”
Einarsson adds that old fables on the origin of settlement in Iceland have now been proved false. However, new theories will not easily make it into history books because of the natural conservative view of historians.
The research in Hafnir is not completed. This summer the middle part of the cabin will be dug up and the work concluded next year.
Not everyone agrees to this theory. Icelandreview.com will have more on the controversy in the near future.
The third part of an exhibition of series of photographs by Leifur Thorsteinsson, running until August 28, opened in the Reykjavík Museum of Photography last month. They include pictures of flowers taken on a 4x5 inch sheet film of the make Kodacolor HD, photos taken in the Reykjavík suburb Grafarvogur and of buildings that were located on the road to Álftanes.
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Two photo exhibitions opened this week in the old herring factory in Djúpavík, a former bustling fishing village in the remote Strandir region in the eastern West Fjords, now inhabited by few. A third exhibition will be on display in Hotel Djúpavík this summer, featuring local handicrafts.
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The annual festival Transphotographiques is currently running in Lille, France. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, this is one of the country’s major photography festivals. “North” is this year’s theme, and there are two photo series from Iceland.
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An archeological find in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula (close to Keflavík Airport) may indicate that some men had started to come to Iceland before the year 874 AD, the year that has traditionally been considered the first year Nordic men came to Iceland to stay.
The next issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review—out next month—will include extensive coverage of the current volcanic eruption in Grímsvötn, similar as the coverage of the eruptions in 2010 (see cover). If you subscribe now, you will receive a photo book by IR editor/photographer Páll Stefánsson of the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull as a gift. Also, all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Sigurbjörg Thrastardóttir is among Iceland’s most accomplished young poets. to bleed straight, a collection of her poetry with English translations by Bernard Scudder and illustrations by Marta María Jónsdóttir, confused me, which might very well be the author’s intention. Some of her poems seem deeply personal while others reflect on the outside world, including social commentary in Iceland and abroad.
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The Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) is a nomadic bird that is commonly found in the Northern coniferous forests of Scandinavia, Russia and North America. But this winter, treetops in Reykjavík have been adorned by flocks of these colorful visitors. After a very warm summer the rowan trees produced an unusually large amount of berries, which are apparently the Waxwing’s favorite food.
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The exhibition “Perspectives – On the Borders of Art and Philosophy”, which opened in Hafnarhús on May 21 as part of the 2011 Reykjavík Arts Festival, offers an unusual overview of contemporary Icelandic art. Selected by eight curators, the exhibition is representative of the breadth and diversity of styles and artistic media pursued in Iceland today.
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