Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2008, Blaðsíða 16

16 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 06 2008 | Feature
Smiðjustígur 4a: An Artistic Shelter
Reykjavík!’s guitarist Haukur hands me a
glass of red wine, plugs in, and starts play-
ing. The band is rehearsing for a long re-
cording session the next day. Their second
album, scheduled to release later this year,
is in the making.
While I listened to their new songs
and sipped my wine, I walked around
the place. The building, located on
Smiðjustígur, a Laugavegur off-street, (next
to legendary bar Grand Rokk,) might not
look like much on the outside, but inside, it
is two floors filled with guitars, amplifiers,
recording equipment, computers, sketch-
books, art-pieces and clothing fabrics. An
old piano, weird home-made instruments
and concert posters on the walls add to
the artistic feel.
In February, the 300 square me-
tre building became home to a group of
musicians, fashion designers and artists.
The place brings to mind the former art-
ist collective Klink & Bank, which con-
sisted of more than 100 artists, designers,
filmmakers and musicians that worked
on their diverse projects for two years in
a former industrial building before it was
demolished. Klink & Bank set an example
and showed how it is possible to use a
deserted house, facing destruction, in
a creative way. Now a smaller version of
that kind of artistic energy grows inside a
building with the same destiny.
Room to Rock
Before settling in at Smiðjustígur,
Reykjavík! shared a 40 square metre prac-
tice space in a Laugavegur backhouse
with Skakkamanage, Borkó and FM Bel-
fast, a diverse but energetic group of local
musicians. That place is now being torn
down. Luckily, their previous and current
landlords, an investment company called
Festi ehf, owns plenty of other properties
in the centre waiting to be demolished.
The company quickly fixed them up with
new accommodations.
“The company owns many buildings
along Laugarvegur, Klapparstígur, Hver-
fisgata. They were very concerned to find
us a new home” says Kristján, Reykjavík!’s
drummer and the building’s main supervi-
sor. “The first idea was to get the old Sam-
hjálp building (on Hverfisgata) where Gal-
lery Kling & Bang (not to be confused with
Klink & Bank, another institution entirely)
are now housed. They then mentioned
this possibility, to take over the two floors
on Smiðjustígur, It was of course much
too big for us but I knew we would easily
fill the space as there are plenty of bands
and artists literally on the street,” he adds.
Their previous housemates moved in
and the girls in Amiina, Ólöf Arnalds and
electronic musician 7oi joined the group
on the ground floor. A couple of artists
and designers took over the second floor
and soon every room was packed. “These
are all friends of ours and the cohabita-
tion has gone very smoothly. No conflicts
or anything. It is important to have good
roommates to make this work,” Kristján
explains. They’ve had to say no to lots of
interested lodgers. “We’ve got loads of
Myspace messages from bands looking for
a practice space,” says Reykjavík!’s singer
Bóas and adds: “There is a great short-
age of decent practice spaces, especially
downtown. In my view, more construction
companies that own buildings in the area
should support this kind of operation and
see the benefit in getting some rent and
support the grassroots in the meantime.”
This view is shared by those artists
and musicians Grapevine caught up with
at Smiðjustígur. If the music and art scene
is supposed to flourish, it must have a
place to grow. Lack of facilities is a prob-
lem and finding a place that is suitable
and also affordable can be difficult. At the
same time, buildings in the city centre that
could easily be used for artistic purposes,
stand empty and locked until the construc-
tion companies get permission from local
authorities to destroy them.
Creativity Instead of Closed Doors
Graphic designer Inga María, shares the
second floor with six other artists and de-
signers. She says she’s also received plenty
of e-mails from people asking for a room
to rent. “This is an awesome space and for
me, it is great to get the company of other
creative people. We were really lucky to
get it,” she says. “I think it’s weird that more
houses aren’t used for this kind of opera-
tions.”
“There is a nice artistic atmosphere
here,” adds Jói (better known as electro
musician 7oi). Surrounded by instruments
and electric cables in his corner, he says
he’s now working on a new album, which
has been due for years. A good portion
of his time here is also used for making
drums out of gas containers in the outside
port. He’s happy to share space with such
a creative bunch. “I especially love all the
instruments I can find here. My fingers just
itch from excitement.”
We talk about how artistic places
like this can have good influences on the
city and bring life to the centre. We discuss
why the investment companies don’t rent
out the empty spaces, awaiting destruc-
tion in coming years anyway, and create
a better public image for themselves in the
meantime. Instead of dead silence, creativ-
ity could be bursting inside their buildings
and they could get some money out of it. A
win-win situation it would seem.
“It’s no secret that we pay a really fair
amount in rent, much less than the prices
are today, but that’s of course because we
will have to leave eventually,” explains
Kristján. In two or three years, the build-
ing will be torn down to make room for
new developments. No one really knows
exactly what will replace it, although talks
of a mini-mall have been loud and not
too popular among many downtown resi-
dents. “I don’t want to defend the invest-
ment companies, but when I discussed the
downtown situation with our landlord I got
the impression that the city council hasn’t
given them the chance to present their
ideas. I think there’s some truth to that. I
really care for the centre and want to see
it thrive but feel that city authorities have
screwed up big time for more than a de-
cade. They don’t understand how the cen-
tre should be. I don’t understand the talks
of mini-malls for example,” Kristjan says
and adds that there are the small concept
shops and designer boutiques that give
Reykjavík’s centre its charm, rather than
large fashion-chains or mini-malls. “As I
see it, the city council is in a way misun-
derstanding the centre and its purpose,”
he adds.
Instead of focusing on the negative,
plenty of shop owners and downtown
residents emphasise the positive and
create life in the centre by organising
concerts, events and parties inside their
stores or galleries. The art collective at
Smiðjustígur plans to spike things up even
more and Kristján points out how a group
of artists can create something magnifi-
cent if they are given a room to do so. “Just
look at Klink & Bank when that still exist-
ed. Think about all the collaborations and
bands that were formed because of Klink
& Bank. Heaps of projects, concerts and
events took place.”
They have plenty of plans for the
summer. Inga Mæja mentions a flea market
and 7oi plans on making plenty of drums
to sell. Concerts and other fun happenings
are also scheduled. “We will try to create
a good atmosphere around this place.
We will collaborate with Grand Rokk,
use maybe the outside port where people
can sell their designs and art and we can
throw concerts. We have many ideas for
this place and can hopefully support the
downtown business in the meantime,”
says Kristján.
With such a diverse mix of people
working together the possibilities are
numerous. Reykjavík! might even end
up forming a band with Amiina. Who
knows. The group will at least continue
to rehearse, design clothes, record songs
and work on various art projects and use
the building as a venue for concerts, exhi-
bitions and other of fun stuff in the near
futures. Whatever comes of this collabora-
tion, it will probably be something a little
crazy, but it will always be better than an-
other empty building in Reykjavík centre.

Text by Steinunn Jakobsdóttir
Photos by GAS
It may not be the end-all solution to the problems of downtown Reykjavík, but the artists collective operating in Smiðjustígur is an example of how vacant houses in the city centre could be used.