Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.01.2006, Blaðsíða 30
Sigurður Harðarson, aka Siggi Punk,
is a man on a mission. If he weren’t
an anarchist, you might even call him
the leader of the Icelandic anarchist
movement. But anarchism is not
about leaders, it is about taking
initiative and doing things yourself.
This is precisely what Siggi Punk has
done.
Last September Siggi took the
initiative and opened an anarchist
library in Reykjavík. This is his way
of spreading ideas and doing political
reform. “Icelandic politics are so col-
ourless. There is no radical thought.
I wanted to relay ideas to the society,
how things could be different and
what people could do for themselves.
The library is here for people to get
ideas from.”
The library shares a former fish-
freezing plant by the harbour with
the Musical Development Centre,
which is an independently run centre
that provides musicians a place to
practise and play their instruments.
A small section of the library is also
on display at the store Ranimosk
on Klapparstígur. So far the library
contains about 700 titles about an-
archist theory, activism, biographies,
radical gender issues and revolution-
ary history. But the collection keeps
growing as Siggi brings in books on
radical theory from far away coun-
tries. “I just brought over 30 kilos
from Holland,” he says, referring to
books, rather than another common
import from the country of tulips.
Siggi splits his time between Rey-
kjavík and Arnheim, a small city
in Holland, where he works as a
nurse. He buys a substantial part of
the books in radical book shops in
Holland, but the selection of stores
is diminishing. “There used to be 50
radical bookstores in Holland about
ten years ago. Now there are four
left. I buy books there and in second-
hand bookshops in Holland and
bring them with me when I come to
Iceland. I also went to the Anarchist
Book Festival in England last fall
and bought some books there.”
He also receives help from friends
and fellow anarchists who bring
books when coming to Iceland, or
simply send donations. “A friend
of mine is coming over from the
United States for Christmas and
he will be bringing about 30 books
with him and recently an American
anarchist who heard about the library
sent me three boxes full of anarchist
literature.”
The purchases are financed by
a concert series organised by Siggi,
called the Resistance Festivals, held
at the Musical Development Centre.
The festival features local bands
that volunteer to play in support of
the library. “I get a bunch of bands
to play for one night, and split the
admission 50:50 with the Musical
Development Centre. I get to keep
the library here for free instead.
Then I use the admission to buy
books for the library.”
The Anarchist Library is
currently open for four hours on
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
But Siggi is always looking to expand
the opening hours. “If more people
would volunteer the library would be
open seven days a week.” He says,
and adds that the time invested there
should not be viewed as a sacrifice.
“People ask me if it is not a big
sacrifice to be here three nights a
week. But it’s not, I do this instead
of watching TV.”
The Anarchist Library is located in The
Cave (Hellirinn), Hólmaslóð 2, 103
Reykjavík. Phone: 824-3001.
Radical Theory, 30 Kilos at a Time
Siggi Punk and the anarchist library
by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Gary Owen is one of the hottest,
young playwrights in Britain. In
2002, he won the George Devine
Award and Fringe First at the
Edinburgh Festival, and in 2003 he
added the Meyer Whitworth Award
and the Pearson Best Play Award to
his record. On January 12, Owen’s
play Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco
(translated Glæpur gegn Diskóinu)
will open in the City Theater. Gary
Owen himself will be present at the
premiere of his play, experiencing
for the first time his own writing in a
language he doesn’t understand.
/// Among the reviews of your
work, there are various descriptions
of you as a playwright, ranging from
“a blazing new talent”, “an angel
with a foul mouth.”
– Yeah, that’s my favourite one.
/// And a review that calls you “dis-
honest, egotistic and narcissistic.”
Any comments on these descrip-
tions?
– The woman who called me ego-
tistic, everyone knows she’s mad.
I think she was asked to leave the
premiere of Crazy Gary’s Mobile
Disco in London because she was
being too loud.
/// From what I’ve heard, you’re
getting quite tired of begin asked
why you wrote this particular play?
– Not really, it’s just a really boring
story. People ask me that and get
disappointed when I tell them. I was
unemployed and had nothing better
to do. What happened was that I
wrote it for my friends who were
actors, and they didn’t like it so they
didn’t do it. So the play sat on my
shelf for about two years, and then I
got a job at the BBC, see this is the
boring part, and got an agent who
read it and started sending it out to
people until a company called Paines
Plough London decided to do it.
/// Did it undergo a lot of changes?
– Yes, I mean, you know... I suppose
I started writing it in 1997 and it was
put on in 2001. Many times I looked
at it and redid it, or looked at it in
horror.
/// What countries has Crazy Gary’s
Mobile Disco been to?
– Germany, the Netherlands,
Sweden, Greece I think, Australia,
Canada, I went to that, and I think
somebody’s doing it in Brazil.
/// How does your work being on
display all over the world make you
feel?
– It’s incredibly gratifying. It’s such a
shock that people all over the world
would like to see something I wrote
just to amuse myself, especially this
play. It’s incredibly odd.
/// Have you seen any of the per-
formances of CGMD outside of
the UK?
– No, but I wanted to. I only go if
I can go for free. I saw the one in
Canada, which was really funny
because the play was still set in
Wales but they did it in a Canadian
accent. We don’t have the same
swear words, and it was the funniest
thing to hear the actors attempt-
ing to say British swear words in a
Canadian accent. Quite often, people
in the audience were laughing at the
play, not with it. And there I was,
the author of the play going: “That’s
so funny!”
/// How does a play set specifically
in South Wales, with a Welsh at-
titude, work in other countries like
Sweden and Germany?
– I didn’t know it was on in Sweden,
I wasn’t told about it. I don’t want
to characterise people according to
what nation they’re from, but they
asked incredibly specific questions
in Germany, like whether or not I
intended the meanings of the charac-
ters’ names to convey anything. They
told me that Gary meant “spear
bearer,” which is not something I
was aware of.
/// Is this play written for its own
sake, or is it a form of social com-
mentary?
– (long silence) It was mainly just me
settling scores with people who have
annoyed me throughout my life by
turning them into characters people
would laugh at. It’s a nasty play now
that I think about it; now that I look
back on what I’ve been doing, it’s
just horrible.
(For information and tickets to Glæpur
gegn Diskóinu, contact Borgarleikhúsið
at 568-8000 or go to www.borgar-
leikhus.is)
The Angel with a Foul Mouth
An interview with Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco author Gary Owen
by Þórdís Elva Þorvaldsdóttir Bachmann
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Crazy man in a Mobile disco/deli, not named Gary.
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