Reykjavík Grapevine - 22.05.2009, Page 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2009
+ COMPLETE CITY LISTINGS - INSIDE!
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LIFE, TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT IN ICELANDYOUR FREE COPY
Issue No 6 – May 22 - June 4 – 2009
Ragnar Kjartansson’s exhibition for Venice, entitled The End, will feature a tableau vivant of the artist
and his model that will last for the entire six-months of the Biennale, along with a monumental video
and music installation. PG. 10.
Asylum Seekers: Guilty Until Proven Innocent?
Iceland's Transcendental Underground!
Get Freaked In Vík!
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Complete Reykjavík Listings Lots Of Cool Events
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www.grapevine.is
The End of
Ragnar
Kjartansson
RAGGI GOES VENICE!
The Artist Would Like
Some Champagne
With His Revolution
On Cover:
Ragnar Kjartansson
Photo by:
Rafael Pinho
Thanks alot:
Börkur Arnarsson
Masthead On Cover
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Hafnarstræti 15, 101 Reykjavík
www.grapevine.is
grapevine@grapevine.is
Published by Fröken ehf.
Editorial:
+354 540 3600 / editor@grapevine.is
Advertising:
+354 540 3605 / ads@grapevine.is
Publisher:
+354 540 3601 / publisher@grapevine.is
Publisher:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson
hilmar@grapevine.is
Editor:
Haukur S Magnússon
haukur@grapevine.is
Journalist:
Catharine Fulton / catharine@grapevine.is
Contributing Writers:
Sigurður K Kristinsson
sigurdur@grapevine.is
Florian Zühlke / f lorian@grapevine.is
Sindri Eldon
Lana Vogestad
Marc Vincenz
Irina Domurath
Sari Peltonen
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl
Richard P. Foley
Editorial Interns:
Jonathan Baker Esq
jonathan@grapevine.is
Joyce Guzowski
joyce@grapevine.is
On-line News Editor
Paul Nikolov
paulnikolov@grapevine.is
Art Director:
Hörður Kristbjörnsson
hoddi@grapevine.is
Photographer:
Julia Staples / www.juliastaples.com
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
Marketing Director:
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson
jontrausti@grapevine.is
Sales Director:
Aðalsteinn Jörundsson
adalsteinn@grapevine.is
Guðmundur Rúnar Svansson
grs@grapevine.is
Distribution:
Samúel Bjarnason
distribution@grapevine.is
Proofreader:
Jim Rice
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Submissions inquiries:
editor@grapevine.is
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General inquiries: grapevine@grapevine.is
Founders:
Hilmar Steinn Grétarsson,
Hörður Kristbjörnsson,
Jón Trausti Sigurðarson,
Oddur Óskar Kjartansson,
Valur Gunnarsson
The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18
times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from
November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this
magazine may be reproduced in whole or
in part without the written permission of
the publishers. The Reykjavík Grapevine
is distributed around Reykjavík, Akureyri,
Egilsstaðir, Selfoss, Kef lavík, Ísafjörður and
at key locations along road #1, and all major
tourist attractions and tourist information
centres in the country.
You may not like it, but at least it's not
sponsored. (No articles in the Rey-
kjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles.
The opinions expressed are the writers’
own, not the advertisers’).
I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m real nerv-
ous when it comes to the Grapevine. I
feel we have a big responsibility to a lot
of folks out there, and I constantly worry
about letting them down. Here are some
groups of people that come to mind:
First and foremost, there’s our read-
ers: we should try and keep them in-
formed of what’s going on (events wise,
in the news, in culture, etc.), amuse them
while they wait for take-away pizza and
provide them with a mass of high-quality
paper for arts and crafts projects (speak-
ing of which, didya notice last issue’s de-
lightfully decadent 60 gram paper? The
printers were saving the thin stuff for the
local newspapers).
Our writers and photographers: to
provide them with the space they de-
serve, to not mess up their contributions
and maybe try and lay them out nice, so
people will want to check them out. We
pay as much as we can for articles and
pictures, and it ain’t a whole lot to be hon-
est. So you know that our contributors
are turning in their pieces out of a sheer
and admirable dedication that demands
our utmost respect.
There’s also events promoters, bands,
galleries, artists and pretty much anyone
who’s offering up some form of enter-
tainment or happening that deserves our
attention. There are a lot of good people
doing a lot of great things in town – in the
whole of Iceland for that matter – and as
we are very interested in promoting and
supporting our local culture, we aim to
publicize and give space to as many of
them as possible.
Which isn’t always easy when you’ve
got only 32 or 40 pages to work with. Fit-
ting in the articles, the interviews, the
schedules and quotes. So we try and we
scramble to cram it all in. Try is key here,
which is unfortunate, and often leads to
heated phone calls or angry letters from
previous friends and well-wishers who
all of the sudden want to see our bodies
impaled on sticks, Cannibal Holocaust-
style.
Anyway. Isn’t this here valuable space
that could be used to cover some theatre
group or something? I guess this is my
attempt to explain to friends and family –
and my cats – why I stay up all night four
days in a row prior to publication and
don’t see them for weeks on end. And
I’m not the only one; Grapevine is lucky
enough to have an army of dedicated and
talented folks working at all hours of the
day to ensure we make it to print on time,
that we deliver some interesting content
and that we’ve got ads to pay our salaries
and printing costs. Hats off to all you
people.
Since I’m hatting off, I might hat off
some more. So I’ll off my hat to all of y’all
that write or phone (or pester our staff
at bars) with helpful suggestions for im-
proving our paper. Keep ‘em coming. I
would also like to hat Yohanna Guðrún
for almost winning Eurovision, our new
MPs for keeping their priorities straight
(ehrm...) and those drunk kids that kept
yelling outside our office window last
night.
Hats, y’all!
Lóa is the Grapevine comic artist.
As well as doing our comics she
runs a prominent downtown hang-
out, Karamba.
Editorial
Haukur’s 6th Editorial!
Comic strips
— by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
— by Hugleikur Dagsson
Visit our stores:
Geysir Haukadal - Selfoss. Tel: 480 6803
Geysir Hafnarstræti 5 - 101 Reykjavík. Tel: 555 2808
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