Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.06.2015, Síða 47

The Nordic House Reykjavík is a vibrant Nordic cultural
institution with exhibitions, a library, shop and one
of the best restaurants in Reykjavík, Aalto Bistro.
The building is designed by the internationally
acclaimed finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Open everyday from 10–17
Visit www.nordichouse.is for more information.

Book a table: www.aalto.is
Sundays – wednsdays 11–17
Thursdays – saturdays 11–21
The Nordic House
Sturlugata 5, 101 Reykjavík
Tel: 5517030, www.nordichouse.is
Enjoy food
Enjoy books
Enjoy culture
Enjoy the
Nordic House
Norræna húsið
The Nordic House
A journey
through the
visual world
of Iceland
The Culture House
Hverfisgata 15
101 Reykjavík
The exhibition, shop
and café are open
daily 10 - 17
Closed on Mondays
16/9 – 30/4
Illuminated manuscripts, textiles, carvings,
photographs, paintings and contemporary
Icelandic art www.culturehouse.is
The Culture House is part of the National Museum of Iceland
THE HOUSE AT EYRARBAKKI

Árnessýsla folk museum is located in Húsið, the House, historical home
of the Danish merchants built in 1765.
Húsið is one of the oldest houses in Iceland and a beautiful monument
of Eyrarbakki´s time as the biggest trading place on the south coast.
Today one can enjoy
exhibitions about the story
and culture of the region,
famous piano, shawl made
out of human hair and the
kings pot, are among items.
Húsið prides itself with warm
and homelike atmosphere.
The Maritime museum is
close by where the beautiful
twelve-rower Farsæll is the
largest item.
A glimpse of the past lives of
Eyrarbakki´s villagers is what
meets the eye of the guests.
Opening hours: May 1st - September 30th daily 11.00-18.00 or by an agreement
Tel: +354 483 1504 & +354 483 1082 | husid@husid.com | www.husid.com
The House at Eyrarbakki
Its inaugural edition, which featured
a solid lineup of 150 artists perform-
ing on five stages over three nights in
the beginning of summer, drew 10,000
festivalgoers and was highlighted as
one of fourteen festivals worldwide to
check out by Time Magazine.
With the exception of a kerfuffle
over drug arrests, with civil rights
group Snarrótin calling the police’s
random searches a violation of people’s
constitutional rights, people seemed
happy with the venture.
Murphy’s Law
The premise of the festival is simple:
During the summer solstice, the three
longest nights of the year, when the
sun hardly sets in Iceland, a park in the
Laugardalur suburbs is transformed
into a massive festival site with pagan
Norse symbols and installations scat-
tered throughout.
Given that it takes place at the
peak of the tourism season in Iceland,
it’s surprising that no one else had at-
tempted to throw a festival in that time
slot, or at that location for that matter,
as there is a campsite and numerous
hotels nearby, and it is within walking
distance of downtown Reykjavík.
The festival’s marketing director,
Leon Hill, tells us it’s been a godsend
to have a full year to prepare this year’s
festival. “From the time we announced
last year’s festival to when we put it on
was just a little under four months, so
it was a fairly quick process,” he said.
“We did almost everything right last
year, but it’s a lot easier when you have
three times more time to do it.”
Leon admits that a lot of things did
go wrong, but that they were all behind
the scenes and unseen by the general
public. “Being in production, we saw
everything that can possibly go wrong
go wrong, whether it was transport, or
things not getting to the festival site on
time, but it all worked out in the end.”
More hip-hop, stat
In Leon’s mind, the only real mistake
that they made was not booking more
hip-hop acts. “Icelanders, as we’ve
learned, are extremely serious about
their hip-hop,” he says. “Our initial
bookings last year were mainly di-
rected at the foreign crowd, especially
the British and US market, but accord-
ing to the response we’ve gotten from
Icelanders this year, I think we’ve defi-
nitely booked correctly.”
He said this year has more diverse
acts booked, with a greater number of
hip-hop and rock acts, and plenty of
up-and-coming artists. The line-up
features FKA twigs, Skream, and To-
tally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and
Leon said that when they announced
Kelis and the Wu-Tang Clan, Iceland-
ers went nuts again.
He heard a friend of his girlfriend’s
bought a ticket just to see Kelis perform
“Milkshake” live. “Kelis is one of those
artists, regardless of the age bracket
you’re in, you’ve heard her songs be-
fore,” he said.
“You might not like to admit it, but
you’ll tap your foot to it, or sing along
to it in your car. And Wu-Tang has
a history, a fan base, and a hip-hop
legacy. Although FKA twigs is not as
well-known in Iceland as many of our
other headliners, there’s so much hype
around her, and I think we’re lucky to
be in the position of showcasing her to
the people of Iceland. She’s extremely
talented.”
A very secret solstice
For this year, the art department is also
getting a much bigger budget, and Leon
said excitedly that he can’t wait to see
the response to some of the installa-
tions they have planned, including an
interactive one, but that he wasn’t al-
lowed to go into any details until the
announcements are made. “From the
point of view of festival guests, wher-
ever they look we want them to have
no doubt in their mind that they’re at
Secret Solstice, a Norse mythology-
themed festival.”
Leon said the festival got permis-
sion to have 15,000 guests, but they’re
aiming for around 12,000. “Although I
do think I can sell a couple more thou-
sand tickets than we’re capping at, we
want to grow properly to avoid experi-
encing some massive growing pains.”
He didn’t divulge exactly how many
tickets have been sold, but said they’ve
sold more than three times the amount
than this time last year.
For now, all we can do is look for-
ward to the sophomore run and hope
that when something does go wrong,
which it inevitably will, we won’t no-
tice.
MUSIC
FESTIVAL
Delivering Music To
A Hip-Hop-Starved Nation
Secret Solstice is back and
bigger in every way
June 19-21 Laugardalur 19,900 ISK www.secretsolstice.isSecret Solstice
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a full year since Schoolboy Q, Banks and Massive
Attack played at Secret Solstice, but it has, which means it’s time to get ready for the
festival’s second iteration.
Words Gabríel Benjamin
Photo Matthew Eisman
7
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 8 — 2015