Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.03.2011, Blaðsíða 14

13
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 3 — 2011
chosen field, interacting with the world
as you do?
SE: No, I don’t believe in nations or na-
tionality, I believe in individuals. Where
you’re from might affect you, but in the
end I am just some person that was
born in this country, but this country
isn’t necessarily a part of me.
G: As an art student, I once had a
teacher that was a big name in the arts.
We were drinking together and he said:
“Never study abroad! You are so spe-
cial here in Iceland, going abroad will
ruin it!”
Then we drank some more and he
reached the conclusion that us seeking
studies abroad was fine. “I see now that
your core is so strong, you can’t hide
it. You can travel the whole world and
never hide the fact that you’re from
Iceland. The further you’ll go, the more
obvious it will become.
Have you really never recognised
any ‘Icelandic characteristics’ in
you?
SE: No, I don’t believe those exist. What
do you think they are?
G: We used to ask that a lot, and to
our utmost horror we learned that it
was everything we refused to admit we
were, everything we wanted to hide.
It’s everything you’re ashamed of and
don’t want foreigners to notice. Imag-
ine an Icelandic brass band playing
on the 17th of June [Iceland’s national
holiday], where nothing is quite in tune
or in harmony. An Icelandic small-town
church choir singing at a funeral. All
the ingredients are there, but it doesn’t
quite come together. Just look at Ice-
landic architecture—we imported all the
main ideas of modernism, yet there’s no
Le Corbusier, no Frank Lloyd Wright,
nothing.
SE: ...Everyone’s trying their best, but
we just can’t get it quite right [laughs].
The Icelandic quality is being inept
but still trying?
SE: I would say that. Just look at Einar
Jónsson. In his sculptures he’s trying to
emulate the international greats, but
doesn’t quite make it. Which gives his
work a quality and character of their
own.
ISOLATION AND FASCISM
G: This begs another question: do you
feel a difference in working out of Reyk-
javík and more remote parts of Iceland?
SE: I guess there’s a difference, but I
don’t really interact a lot with other
people...
G: Being a hermit, a monk that wants to
live in seclusion. I know it from experi-
ence as a teacher at LHÍ; it’s how peo-
ple escape from mediocrity. It’s like no
one evades mediocrity except by being
in a place where he can be introspec-
tive and alone with his vices. You have
to have an obsession, and you need to
flee others so you can indulge in that
obsession. You need to become a her-
mit so no one can tell how anal you are
in your work.
SE: Of course I am obsessed with my
work, of course it is a sort of compul-
sion, but at the same time it’s the most
fun thing I do and my main hobby.
G: Sometimes people need to focus on
the small things to gather real success.
Siggi isn’t really that good at drawing;
he isn’t really good at anything except
one thing, which is working with that
small, square shape, the pixel. He’s
mastered that, he’s top of the line when
it comes to that one thing.
you seem to like order in your
works, Siggi...
SE: I love rules. And I love creating rigid
rules for my work that I need to follow...
G: In other words: you’re a fascist.
There is another word for that, which is
orthodoxy or fundamentalism. Political
correctness. You have rules that you
follow and there is absolutely no toler-
ance for any deviation. You see what
I’m saying, the only way to superior
success is donning these horse blind-
ers that provide absolute tunnel vision,
maintaining total focus at all times.
SE: I don’t feel I confine myself abso-
lutely like that, even though I choose to
work within a grid and with some rules.
What I try to do is take something really
small and make something really big
out of it, as much as I can. Say I want to
draw a horse; I’ll decide I have to draw
it using a particular method that in turn
influences how the work comes out.
Can you name some of these rules?
SE: They’re just these small, ridiculous
rules, like only using a certain number
of colours or shapes. Or inserting small
jokes that only I will understand.
DESIGN VS. ART
-What does the graphic designer
do? What is his or her role?
SE: I think it differs a lot from person to
person. There are many different types
of designers out there.
G: I’ve always thought of the graphic
designer as an expert in relaying an
idea to someone that needs it, using
a mix of text and visuals. The graphic
designer masters the art of presenting
something, some message, whether
it is political, religious or commercial
... whatever industry there is or who-
ever needs to put forth a message, the
graphic designer is a mediator between
a message and its recipient.
SE: That seems a very straightforward
way of putting it. It’s the core of what a
designer does, then different ones em-
ploy different methods.
Is the difference between a graphic
designer and a visual artist then
that the designer is always relaying
someone else’s message, while the
artist makes up his own?
G: No. Because artists are often em-
ployed to get someone’s message
across. Companies will pay them to
make works of art or performances,
politicians will employ them...
SE: And it’s pretty common that de-
signers do something out of their own
will...
G: The difference between artists and
what we call visual communication is
that for visual communication you need
to employ no more than three layers to
get your message across. That is, the
sign, the signifier and the signified. The
work needs to first catch the intended
recipients eye, then tell him what it’s
about—whether it’s an Apparat Organ
Quartet or Hjálmar CD or Jón Gnarr or
whatever—and then present the mes-
sage. These three layers are all they can
be, because it needs to be to the point
and it needs to be digested quickly,
while art can employ a hundred layers
with references to literature and other
art and hidden meanings.
The real difference is whether
someone is creative or simply skilled at
making things. You quickly realise that.
Most of what’s made in the name of art
isn’t art, it’s crap. And most design is
crap, most music is crap, most business
theory is crap. But there are people in
each field that possess creative souls,
they are all risk takers, they are all col-
lectors, they all have that magic. I don’t
sort people into categories of ‘designer’
and ‘artist’, I only divide between peo-
ple that are creative and those that are
merely skilled.
PLUMBERS AND PROGRAMMERS
SE: I find it very odd, this sudden fo-
cus on design. What with DesignMarch
and everyone constantly talking about
designers and design. This interview
for instance. Where does it come from?
Why? Why aren’t people talking about
great plumbers or programmers or
whatever... why does what we do mat-
ter so much? I don’t understand.
G: You don’t think it matters?
SE: I just don’t understand why people
aren’t talking about something else..
It’s odd having to tell people about
what you’re doing, about ‘what design
is’. Why not talk to a programmer? They
are intensely creative, and they’re mak-
ing useful things that make people’s
lives easier. Why isn’t the media in-
terviewing programmers and placing
them on their covers?
G: Could it be that the designer needs
more exposure than the programmer in
order to get work?
SE: It works the same for the most part.
The only difference is that the program-
mer’s job isn’t as visual. It’s problem
solving. Some programmers are even
creative, as in your earlier paradigm,
while others are craftsmen. It’s a fas-
cinating field.

But one aspect of your work is
mass communication; addressing
and trying to reach large groups of
people, and if you are good at your
job and succeed one could imagine
that you’ve tapped into something
human, something that’s shared by
people the world over.
SE: Yeah, maybe. I never try to appeal
to people or reach them. I put what I
do out there and people will see it, but
I’m not doing it for them. Everything
I do, I do for myself. Regardless, I am
fortunate enough that people that hire
me for jobs usually know who I am and
what I’m about. They’re hiring me to do
what I do best, so there’s usually no
confusion in that regard. I am also picky
about projects, I need to like a band if I
am to make their album cover. Making
the cover for Apparat, for instance, I re-
ally liked. They are one of my favourite
Icelandic bands.
you seem to share a certain aes-
thetic with the band, your artwork
fit well with the music. Describe the
process.
SE: We wanted to make something that
was digital, yet had human elements.
The band wanted to make a crest for
each member and I liked the idea. I had
spent a lot of time on the computer at
that point, so I wanted to make this
project a little differently. I drew all the
pictures, then carved everything out in
vinyl foil—each colour was a different
film—and glued it together. It brought a
human touch, they’re not 100% perfect.
Making it this way was an idiosyn-
cratic decision, it would have definitely
been easier on a computer. It took me
around two weeks to draw the crests
and then we spent a few nights into
carving it all out, me and my friend Ög-
mundur Jónsson, who is very good with
his hands.
WHAT’S HAPPENING // WHAT
HAPPENED
What is your take on the current sit-
uation in Iceland in terms of design.
Is anything going on?
[they laugh]
G: He has no idea! He won’t know a
thing about it!
SE: Yeah, no I don’t. I don’t think any-
thing’s happening. I feel like there’s so
much depression and... lack of ambi-
tion around. I can’t name any examples
though.
G: I think you’re wrong. But it’s hard to
spot when something’s going on. Like
when kids ask me to recommend a
school to go to. “Goddur, what schools
are happening these days? Where’s
the scene?” The fact is that if you hear
about such a school or such a scene,
it’s almost certain that it’s over by that
time. That’s the nature of things—a
chemistry starts brewing and no one
can tell why, and no one even spots it
until it’s over.

So, did something happen then?
Has something happened?
G: See, what’s happened in the past de-
cade is that Icelanders are for the first
time participating in an international
design culture, and—pay attention—al-
most exclusively in the field of graphic
design. Books have been published
about Icelandic graphic designers,
magazines interview them and com-
mission them. This started happening
around the year 2000, and it doesn’t ap-
ply to architects or industrial designers
or chair designers or whatnot. It’s the
graphic ones that are raising attention
and participating.
SE: Like who?
G: You, Katrín Péturs, Hjalti Karlsson...
SE: That’s not a lot of people.
G: Comparatively it is. And these three
all have an international label. You can’t
say that about Icelandic product de-
signers or architects.
Why is this happening? Is it the in-
ternet’s fault?
G: No, I claim it’s because an interna-
tional superstar of product design, Mi-
chael Young, fell in love with an Icelan-
dic woman. It’s far more important than
the internet. Journalists started ventur-
ing here to meet him and had their eyes
opened to Icelandic designers and that
there was something potentially brew-
ing here that had gone undocumented.
This attention and exposure injected
life into the community.
G: Is anything happening in Berlin?
SE: Yes. There’s access to more, at
least.
G: Is there? Do we not have access to
the world via the internet and maga-
zines and the media? Is this some per-
sonal access that you have there? I can
tell you that I’ve met more world famous
artists in Iceland than I ever met abroad.
They are untouchable abroad, here they
become your friends. You understand?
I have had good conversations with Da-
vid Bowie in Álftanes. You can’t meet
him in New York or wherever he lives.
SE: I’ve only ever hung out with Björk
abroad, never in Iceland. You’ve gotten
so angry Goddur [laughs]!
[Goddur laughs]
G: I have to talk to you as a student. I
have to be your teacher, that is my fate.
SE: Isn’t that just fine?
Check out Siggi’s exhibit, Pólýfónía’s Crests, at Tjarnarbíó throughout
DesignMarch. Then go view the panel discussion assembled by Goddur,
‘Design in Times of Change’ at Tjarnarbíó on March 24 at 22:00.
G
oddur on S
iggi
In m
y m
ind
, S
iggi Eggertsson is a phenom
enon of obsession
. H
e m
akes up certain rules for him
self.
They aren’t very m
any. H
e keeps w
ithin their con
fines and m
asters their use. This is how
he gets
results that have placed him
in the high ranks of the w
orld
’s visual com
m
unicators.