Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.07.2010, Side 29

VILLA REYKJAVIK
The Bust of
an Accidental
Hero
Louis-Auguste Cyparis, known
as Samson, was one of two
people to have survived the
eruption of Mt. Pelee on
8 May 1902, which wiped out
the entire town of St. Pierre
on Martinique and killed 20
thousand of its inhabitants.
He survived because a few days before the
disaster he had been incarcerated in a small cell
of the local prison. Soon he became a popular
member of Barnum & Bailey Circus, where
he was presented as the “Lone Survivor of
St. Pierre.” When in residence in Martinique
in 2009, artist Rafał Bujnowski decided to revive
the contemporary memory of Cyparis. The
project will be completed with the unveiling
of a monument – created on the basis of portrait
photographs which have remained – in the
premises of the St. Pierre museum, not far
from the prison cell which saved Samson’s life.
The massive bust, cast in volcanic ash collected
on the beaches of St. Pierre before the trip to
Martinique, is on display at the “Fate Away”
exhibition at Raster gallery.
Vesturgata 10 - 10a
Guma
(Mr Rubber)
Who is Guma? In collaboration
with young people from the
Warsaw district of Praga,
Polish artist Paweł Althamer
has created a statue of the local
bum, an anti-hero who was,
however, the good spirit of the
neighbourhood, seen every day
in front of the local liquor store
standing on wobbly legs. For
reason of his specific posture and
the nickname, the statue was cast
in rubber. The peculiar sculpture
by Althamer, which served as
model for Guma’s statue, will
be on display at Foksal Gallery
Foundation.
Tryggvagata 18
Havarí live music project
Villa Reykjavík is not only exhibitions, performances, film
screenings, and partying. It is also a project about unexpected
neighbourhoods. A group of Icelandic musicians with a guest
group of musicians from Poland have decided to give the
meeting an artistic form: a spontaneously formed houseband
will improvise during the open daily sessions in Havarí, each
day at 17.00, each time for around half an hour. The final,
experimental Tuesday mix, will be recorded and released
in a limited edition.
Austurstrcti 6
Paristetris
Paristetris is “a rough fragmented band that can be split into
parts, each of which (its members) is, at least approximately,
a reduced-size copy of the whole band,” a property known
as self-similarity. Natural objects that are similar to Paristetris
include clouds, mountain ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines,
snow flakes, various vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli),
and animal coloration patterns. Though all these are worse
coz they’re finite. This phenomenal band will play a gig
closing the first day of Villa Reykjavík.
Bakkus / Venue, Tryggvagata 22, 9 July, 22.00
William Hunt
The opening week will end with a performance by William Hunt. This London based artist is known
for his spectacular actions, in which he merges the element of art with elements of nature. One of his
most amazing performances is Put Your Foot Down, where William sings in a car completely filled with
water. In The impotence of radicalism in the face of all these extreme positions, he sings and plays the guitar
hanging upside down. The setting for his project in Reykjavík is the sea, there will also be the always
present music.
seashore, 16 July, 22.00
photo courtesy IBID Projects, London
photo Adam Tarasiuk
photo courtesy Raster, Warsaw
photo courtesy Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw
Kitty Travers,
Rhubarb
Ice-creams
When visiting Warsaw four
years ago, Kitty Travers created
an extraordinarily tasting ice-
-cream in the flavour of Prince
Polo chocolate bar and the local
Zywiec beer. In subsequent years
she became one of the best known
ice-cream chefs in London.
When she visits new places, she
likes to discover new flavours.
Now, Kitty is going to spend
a week working in Reykjavík.
When asked about possible
flavours to be found in Iceland,
she lists: Organic Milk, Cream
and Yoghurt from dairy cattle
who are fed on wild grasses and
seaweed, caramelised Geyserbread
(Rye Bread baked for 20 hours in
geothermal steam vents), Rhubarb,
Wild Cherries, Brown Sugar &
Surmjolk (soured milk), Glacier
Water Ice Lollies, Sea Salt. The
results of her extraordinary ice-
cream experiments will be served
in various places, for instance on
Wednesday, 14 July at House
of Ideas.
www.villareykjavik.com
.