Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Qupperneq 30

30
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 3 — 2012
Creativity | Central
Since the local fish factory in
Stöðvarfjörður closed down in 2005
and its 32 employees lost their jobs,
the eastern municipality of roughly
200 people has faced a serious de-
cline. Like many of Iceland’s small
towns, this community has faced a
systematic shutdown of social ser-
vices, followed by large-scale de-
population.
Designers Rósa Valtingojer and Zdenek
Paták—who together form MupiMup,
a design team focused on turning
what usually is considered waste into
functional products—have been work-
ing since 2010 on a project that might
lead the town in a different direction. In
collaboration with a few other parties,
including a group of MA communica-
tion design students from the Central
Saint Martins College of Art and Design
in London, Rósa and Zdenek are in the
midst of setting up a creative centre
in the abandoned fish factory, which
would have been torn down a few years
ago if it weren’t for their enthusiasm.
“On the one hand, the fish factory
embodies Stöðvarfjörður's decline. Im-
mediately from the day it closed, this
town started to go down,” Zdenek ex-
plains. “On the other hand, however, it
is Stöðvarfjörður's stronghold, a mas-
sive building located by the harbour at
the centre of the village. So it is very
symbolic.”
A NEED FOR FREEDOM
The creative centre will house artist
workshops, studio spaces, a museum,
café and a market selling produce and
local food products, thereby retaining
some of its original purpose by sup-
porting the local fishing industry. With
the help of their fellow handyman Al-
exander Smári Gjöveraa, Rósa and
Zdenek are renovating the house with
little to no money, planning to partly
open this coming summer. In about
four years time the centre should be
fully operating with the clear aim of
creating a platform for the increased
self-sustainability and independence of
the village.
Rósa, who has lived in Stöðvarfjörður
for the biggest part of her life, says the
village could just as well be wiped off
the map if it doesn't sustain itself. “It is
expensive, within the system we live in,
to keep small communities running and
it is obviously not on the list of priori-
ties.” Zdenek, who moved there in 2007,
says that due to the cutting of social
services, inhabitants have to travel for
basic needs such as groceries, bank
and postal services. Recently, there
have also been talks of closing down
the village's elementary school. “That
makes this place less and less interest-
ing for people to come and live here,
especially young people,” she says.
Why do they find it important to
keep such a small village going? Ró-
sa's answer is simple and honest: “It
is amazing to live here. One's life is
full of nature and endless space. Every
house has a garden where one can, for
instance, grow food,” she says with an
underlying urge for more freedom than
is possible in big cities. Zdenek agrees:
“At this point, living in a place like this
is more of a statement expressing the
need for more freedom to be outside of
the system.”
The two describe their hometown as
a suburb of Fjarðabyggð—a municipal-
ity made up of six nearby towns with
Reyðarfjörður being the central town,
not only containing the municipality's
key offices and services but also an
Alcoa aluminium smelter, which began
operating in 2007. Its construction—
which was and remains a divisive deci-
sion amongst Icelanders—was original-
ly presented as a solution to population
problems in the East. However, Rósa
and Zdenek don’t see it that way. On
the contrary, they see it as a part of a
large-scale centralization, based on the
merger of many small municipalities,
where what is on the margins is con-
sidered less economical. “The interests
of Fjarðabyggð are not really flowering
in Stöðvarfjörður. Everybody here feels
it,” Zdenek says.
NO, NO, THERE'S NO LIMIT
“People often want to come up with
solutions for others,” Rósa says, refer-
ring to mega-scale projects like the
smelter. In fact, Alcoa has funded a
bulk of the area's cultural and educa-
tional projects, providing the company
with an image of a “life-saviour,” as
Rósa phrases it. “Our project's pure ad-
vantage is that we are living here and
the project comes from our own needs,
based on the potential of this place,”
Zdenek says. “You have to know your
problems very well to come up with so-
lutions,” Rósa adds.
Finding solutions to problems
seems to be the essence of Rósa and
Zdenek's approach to design. “Design
is just a word,” Zdenek says. “I mean,
who is a designer?” Rósa elaborates,
“Design is about solving problems.”
They believe everybody has creative
skills and that is what their project is
about. “It is based on the belief in the
creative skills,” Zdenek explains. “The
project will provide a wide spectrum
of creative options, from food to music
and crafts.” In summary, Rósa says it
touches on everything to do with cul-
ture. “The possibilities are endless, and
we are not going to limit them. The proj-
ect will be developing constantly,” she
says.
And the problem they aim to solve is
not only the above-stated one of small
countryside towns declining. Operating
on the same principles as MupiMup,
the creative centre will also focus on
minimizing waste, which will instead
be used as material for something
different. Already one could say that
Rósa and Zdenek are, by taking over
the abandoned fish factory, turning
trash into something usable—an act fu-
elled by a vision perfectly described by
handyman Alexander: “We are taught
to see things in the way we are told to
see them. This project is about seeing
through that image—to envision some-
thing different.”
ENvISION SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Once-abandoned fish factory becomes a problem-solving creative centre
Words
Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson
photography
Viktor Pétur Hannesson
Disclaimer: This is The Grapevine’s
BAD ADvICE column. It’s where Nanna
Árnadóttir answers questions from our
readers about traversing the Icelandic
cultural jungle. She is usually nice, but
really rather bad at giving advice…
Dear Nanna,
I’ve started casually seeing this Icelandic guy
and every time we have sex it’s a struggle to
get him to wear a condom. I admit sometimes
I slip or cave in and we have sex without one.
How do I make him wear one or at least like
it more?
Condomless in a Conundrum
Dear Condomless in a Conunundrum,
I have some bad news for you. You have
contracted a crusty, pus-filled disease that’s
camping out your vagina. Chlamydia rates in
Iceland are very high because Icelandic men
are too cheap to buy condoms. So it’s over
for you. How about in the future you keep
three condoms in your wallet? If you meet
someone you want to have sex with, chances
are you’ll do it twice, the third one you can
keep in case you meet a walking penis or a
sexy lamp post on the way home. Also start
hiding condoms in places you know you’re
going to have sex, like the toilet at Prikið or in
the napkin dispenser at Bæjarins Bestu. You
can’t make this guy like it, but just because
you don’t like something doesn’t mean you
won’t do it to get laid, just ask the ex I used
to make wear my knickers on the outside of
his trousers like a lacy superhero.
You’re welcome.
Nanna
Dear Nanna,
I’m an exchange student at the University of
Iceland and since I got here I found myself
drinking a lot. The other day I even blacked
out. I’m a little nervous I might be developing
a problem.
Drunk in 101

Dear Drunk in 101,
I have created a cocktail in your honour
called Drunk in 101. It’s Brennivín mixed with
Opal shots and malt and twelve cigarettes
and a call to your ex girlfriend where you cry
and then a fist fight with that Spanish guy
at the end of the bar and some taking your
pants off and wondering if you can get ac-
cess to porn on your iPhone. You can. If you
think you have a real problem though just
check into rehab or go to an English speak-
ing AA meeting, Iceland has plenty quitter!
Where did I put my beer?
Nanna
Got a question for Nanna and need some bad
advice? Email nanna.arnadottir@gmail.com
and you might get an answer published in the
next issue of Grapevine.
Don’
t Ask

Nann
a!
Design is about
solving problems