Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.08.2011, Page 27

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2011
Breaking My Spell
Art | Performance
A performance endurance piece
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – Eddas and Sagas
The ancient vellums on display.
MILLENNIUM – Icelandic art through the ages.
Phase one. Starts 23 June.
CHILD OF HOPE – Youth and Jón Sigurðsson
Tribute to the leader of the independence movement.
EXHIBITIONS - GUIDED TOURS
CAFETERIA - CULTURE SHOP
The Culture House – Þjóðmenningarhúsið
National Centre for Cultural Heritage
Hverfisgata 15 · 101 Reykjavík (City Centre)
Tel: 545 1400 · thjodmenning.is · kultur.is
Open daily between 11 am and 5 pm
Free guided tour of THE MEDIEVAL
MANUSCRIPTS weekdays at 3 pm,
except Wednesdays.
Michelle L. Morby has come all the
way from San Francisco to Reykja-
vík to participate in the Reykjavík
half marathon on August 20. Not
planning to set any records, Mi-
chelle is here to do a performance
endurance piece called ‘Breaking
My Spell,” involving nine costume
changes.
It’s based on a fairy tale she wrote
about an enchanted horse-turned-wal-
rus going on a transformational journey
to find itself. On the journey, the wal-
rus meets different animals—a puffin
and then a fox, for example—and each
time it gives something of itself away
until little by little it discovers itself as
a horse again.
“The idea is that the different things
that the walrus sacrifices are all defence
mechanisms to get back to the original
vulnerability and strength of self,” Mi-
chelle explained. “The tusks are about
defence, the blubber is about creating a
boundary, and the skin is about creat-
ing tough skin. When you shed all these
layers, you reveal your true self.”
The piece is very much part of Mi-
chelle’s own transformational journey.
“I had gained a bunch of weight, and
just going to gym was not enough,” Mi-
chelle said. “I’m really disciplined in my
art practice, so I thought, what if I made
this into my art practice. It’s a different
way of contextualising discipline and
eventually it becomes a ritual. I’m cre-
ating this transformation. I’m still in the
walrus body and I’m transforming into
the horse as I get stronger and more fit
and flexible.”
She adds: “One of the reasons I
wanted to do a walking performance
is because it is referencing the circum-
ambulation that people do in different
religious sites. It’s a sort of walking
meditative preponderance of the trans-
formative quality.”
The whole art project, which will
span three countries over the next three
years, will also wind up being a film.
Visit www.breakingmyspell.wordpress.
com to find out more, and if you catch
Michelle in the act of transformation
during, she encourages you to send in
your photos.
ANNA ANDERSEN
ODDVAR öRN HJARTARSON