Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.05.2010, Side 32

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 06 — 2010 If you've never been to Kolaportið, go there. It's cool.
Kolaportið, Reykjavík’s one and only flea
market, is a chaotic writhing mass. Every
species occupies a niche in this harbour-
side warehouse: vendors of all stripes,
and buyers to match. Some are shed-
ding old things while others are gather-
ing them back up. It’s the perfect venue
to play cultural ecologist, studying how
everyone does their part to make the flea
market work.
The hawkers
Perhaps 40 or so vendors occupy Kola-
portið on any given weekend. Among the
used goods sellers, there are three major
classes. Some regular sellers are profes-
sionals. They buy from the real raw sec-
ond-hand places like Góði Hirðirinn and
the Red Cross store, then mark up their
wares for sale every weekend.
Other vendors, like Ásta Ólafsdóttir,
are at Kolaportið just for a day or a week-
end. “I’m cleaning out my storage room,”
Ásta explained. She’s making enough
from selling, she said, to make the stall
rental worthwhile for the weekend. It’s a
good way to wring a few last Króna from
your old items on their way out.
And then there are the vendors whose
selection of wares follows no rhyme or
reason. “Some people sell just junk. Re-
ally old stuff,” said Ásta.
Ingibjörg Magnúsdottir began sell-
ing like Ásta did—cleaning out her closet.
But the project rapidly snowballed into a
hobby. Soon Ingibjörg began attracting
repeat customers. “They collect books.
They collect knives, razors, bottle open-
ers.” Now she picks out items and saves
them for her regulars.
The foragers
The market attracts anyone who’s hunt-
ing for a bargain. Kolaportið was even
featured in the internationally acclaimed
Icelandic film 101 Reykjavík—the charac-
ters got a deal on a tacky artificial Christ-
mas tree. Jóna Ásgrimsdóttir, part-owner
of Kolaportið, says customers range from
“poor people to the bishop. People like
you and me, and famous people. Mainly
Icelandic.”
The sections of the market draw dif-
ferent customers. Younger people gravi-
tate to the used clothing, Jóna explained,
but the grocery section of the market is
frequented by older people, perhaps be-
cause younger generations aren’t very
familiar with some of the traditional Ice-
landic products.
Þorsteinn Hallsson, a young man sell-
ing potatoes, had experienced the same
phenomenon. “Younger people eat rice,”
he laughed, suggesting that perhaps his
customers were mainly older because
younger people don’t have as much pa-
tience for boiling potatoes.
The environment
Kolaportið, which turns 21 this year, is a
refreshing contrast to those vintage shops
along the main drag. You know you’re
in the wrong place if they use the word
“vintage” to describe their merchandise
in the first place. Their wares represent
only a select sliver of the broader world
of used goods, so for those of us who get
a thrill from pawing through mounds of
used things in search of The Find, they’re
a little boring. There’s no hunt, and the
price mark-up reflects that. Despite their
beautiful collections, shopping at these
places feels like cheating.
Meanwhile Kolaportið lays the whole
kit n’ caboodle in your lap whether you
like it or not. It’s like walking through a
kaleidoscope of junk.
In some ways, however, Kolaportið
is a little tamer than a classic flea mar-
ket. Icelanders don’t really bargain, and
there’s even a restaurant with tables so
shoppers can rest their feet. Guðmundur
Björn Sveinsson, one of the many sellers
of dried Icelandic fish, said Kolaportið is
straight-laced and well-organised. “I’ve
seen flea markets here and there, but
nothing like this. I mean, I would call this
a market, a marketplace,” he said. “It’s a
little step higher.”
Kolaportið is open on Saturdays and Sun-
days from 11:00 to 17:00.
Kolaportið: A Sampling
Sweater Store: Long underwear,
plastic necklaces, and traditional
Icelandic patterned sweaters, hats,
bibs, baby clothes, dog clothes.
Victoria’s Secret Store: Zebra
print bra, peace sign hoodie, Tender
Whisper body lotion, candles that
look like rocks, Talking Brick Game
portable electronic game, Fashion
Forms shoulder pads.
Joe’s Garage Sell & buy: Strump-
arnir (Smurfs) 4 DVD, Algjör Sveppi
og leitin að villa DVD (a kid’s adven-
ture), Night At The Opera by Queen
on vinyl, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt
‘Em by MC Hammer on CD.
candy Shop: Brjóstsykur hard
candies, Sport Lakkrís, coconut-
covered chocolate cylinders, giant
fruit gummies.
Fish Market: Red seaweed, dried
haddock, rotten shark, smoked hali-
but, cured salmon, fish balls, horse
meat sausage, smoked whale meat,
hanged lumpfish and cod.
The Junk part Of Kolaportið:
Mushroom statuette, slotted spoon,
cassette tape of “Aerobic Dancing,”
Tarzan comics (in Icelandic), book
of sex positions with full-colour
photographs, 6 pairs mega-platform
pumps, tin of marbles, cardboard
box full of romance novels, baby
Snugli.
The Hawkers And The Foragers
Kolaportið is an ecosystem of used goods
Article | Shopping
“I’ve seen f lea markets here
and there, but nothing like
this. I mean, I would call this
a market, a marketplace.”
Words
Stephanie Orford
photography
Julia Staples
The good people behind the artFart festival
will be writing us occasionally this summer,
giving a sneak preview this year’s programme
and some insight into the inner-workings of
producing an independent arts festival in
Iceland.
For those that have not yet become ac-
quainted, artFart is an international, con-
temporary arts festival that takes place in
Reykjavík every August. Since 2006, art-
Fart has taken up residence in theatres,
galleries and alternative spaces across
Reykjavík to present a programme of
performance events that provide a space
for artists and audiences to come to-
gether and celebrate contemporary per-
formance here in Iceland.
As an independent festival, we pride
ourselves in being Iceland’s foremost
presenter of both homegrown and in-
ternational contemporary performance,
and seek to represent the work of artists
that may otherwise remain massively un-
derrepresented in this country.
There is a fast-growing wave of new
homegrown artists, and an unprec-
edented level of interest from interna-
tional groups offering an awesome array
of performance delights. artFart, armed
with a tiny budget and a penchant for
punching above its weight, is lining up
a series of miniature art-world coups to
accommodate them all.
It is still very early days in the artFart
2010 calendar. Although preparations for
securing funds are now moving health-
ily into their final phase, the process for
programming and scheduling the three-
week event is still very much an open
field.
There are a few insider secrets that I
am at liberty to share, however.
I can reveal that artFart’s 2010 head-
quarters will set up camp in an enor-
mous warehouse space down by the
harbour. The space is called Útgerðin
and will host many of the indoor works,
workshops, and talks taking place at this
year’s festival.
The theme of this year’s festival is
‘alternative spaces’ and part of this fo-
cus has led to the creation of a specific
artFart programme entitled The Reykja-
vik Public Space Programme: a series of
performance events dedicated to the ex-
ploration of contemporary performance
practices that use public space as a plat-
form.
Excitingly for the artists of Iceland,
part of this initiative includes a selec-
tion of workshops, all led by established
European artists. Even more exceptional
is that these workshops will be free of
charge and applicants will be selected
on the basis of their artistic motivation
and interest, rather than by the size of
their wallets.
Alexander Roberts
Let The Farting
commence!
artFart starts the fart
Art | Fart