Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2008, Blaðsíða 13

Article | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 06 2008 | 13
I had arranged an interview with land-
scape architect and designer / artist
Martha Schwartz on Saturday morning,
the day before the opening of her large
installation project in the Reykjavík Art
Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir, called I Hate
Nature. She had planned to be there to
oversee the final composition of the in-
stallation, a rather large, black building
which hosts a giant “bowl” – is likely
the right word – of aluminium foil.
When I arrived, I found Schwartz
mid-sentence, ordering people around
to try to get the project off the ground.
“The damn thing isn’t ready yet, I don’t
think we’ll finish in time,” she says. “I
had to throw a little tantrum this morn-
ing just to get things going.” There is no
time to conduct an interview, that goes
without saying, but Schwartz tells me
she has to go to the store and pick up
some more household aluminium foil,
and I am welcome to ride along and
ask her a few questions.
In an article she wrote for the cat-
alogue that accompanies her installa-
tion, Schwartz says: “I would like to use
my own experience as an American
as a mirror here in Reykjavik. We, too,
live in a recently settled, thinly popu-
lated land whose great beauty and
resources have become both its pride
and its downfall. In the face of all kinds
of contrary evidence, the mythology
of our sublime landscape still thrives
in our hearts, minds, and, especially,
our media. You are at a fork in the road.
Choose carefully.”
“We Americans continue to hold onto
the myth that we are living in a wide-
open continent of endless beauty and
natural riches – thanks, in part, to the
ad men on Madison Avenue who, in a
genius move, borrowed from the work
of generations of explorer-artists who
raised Nature to a cult status. The me-
dia has kept the wilderness fantasy
alive and kicking through our industri-
alisation and well into the Information
Age, sustaining us through our contin-
ued historical “westward expansion”
towards a manifest destiny of Big Box
developments.”
She gives me a short explana-
tion of the idea behind her work as we
speed through an intersection, running
a red light. I buckle up and listen: “In
America, because of our idea of how
vast the landscape is, because it is so
huge, we have this attitude, this idea
of endless resources – that we can do
what we want – and that has not neces-
sarily helped us,” she says.
“In America, urban sprawl has re-
ally been our worst enemy. Americans
hate cities,” she says, “they want to live
in the suburbs.” She explains how urban
sprawl has been responsible for degrad-
ing nature, man-made environments
and the quality of life; how densely
populated areas don’t support cultural
institutions like the opera or art muse-
ums; and how economic imperatives
of urban development disregarded the
importance of aesthetic demands in re-
constructing our environment and our
cities. Or, as it is put in her catalogue:
“Sprawl development generates eco-
logical problems, discourages cultural
and social interaction, and creates vast
demi-worlds of bland, faceless and ugly
environments.”
We have arrived at the store, and
Schwartz grabs what’s left of heavy-du-
ty aluminium household foil and we are
soon on our way back to the museum.
I ask her how these thoughts relate to
her project here in Iceland. “I am trying
to show the seduction of aluminium,
because like any seduction, it can be
dangerous – it could be your poisoned
chalice,” Schwartz explains “Much like
Americans, you have this vast land-
scape, but you have to be careful how
you choose to use it.”
Aluminium has been a subject
of heated debate in Icelandic society.
Due to Iceland’s abundant energy re-
sources, multi-national companies alu-
minium companies like Rio-Tinto have
shown great interest in building smelt-
ers in Iceland, with one project recently
completed and three more on the hori-
zon. Schwartz believes Icelanders have
shown a certain level of short sighted-
ness in how they approach the choice
between utilization and preservation.
And we leave it at that. Schwartz
returns to her installation, carrying 39
rolls of household aluminium foil in a
plastic bag.
Text by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Photo by GAS
My Morning with Martha
“I am trying to show the seduction of aluminium, because like
any seduction, it can be dangerous – it could be your poisoned
chalice.”
Viking feasts every night
- live entertainment
“You haven't been in Iceland if you haven't been to us“ ' '
For booking and
further information:
Tel.: +354 565-1213
www.vikingvillage.is
vikings@vikingvillage.is
Strandgata 55 Hafnarfjordur
Don’t miss it!
Situated in the Central Bank´s main building in Kalkofnsvegur 1, Reykjavík.
Open Mon.-Fri. 13:30-15:30. Free admittance.
Numismatic Museum
Licensing and
registration of travel-
related services
The Icelandic Tourist Board issues licences to tour operators and travel agents,
as well as issuing registration to booking services and information centres.
Tour operators and travel agents are required to use a special logo approved
by the Icelandic Tourist Board on all their advertisements and on their Internet
website.
Booking services and information centres are entitled to use a Tourist
Board logo on all their material. The logos below are recognised by the
Icelandic Tourist Board.
List of licenced Tour
Operators and Travel
Agencies on:
visiticeland.com