Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.07.2015, Page 53

INNIPÚKINN
31.07 —
02.08 —
innipukinn.is
— Music Festival
Tickets: Midi.is and at the door
Ylja
Maus
Dikta
Sóley
Mammút
Úlfur Úlfur
Gísli Pálmi
Retro Stefson
FM Belfast (dj set)
JFM &
AbamAdamA
+ many more
Amtmannsstíg 1 • 101 Reykjavík • +354 561 3303 • www.torfan.is
experience
classical cuisine
We started out in Hjartagarðurinn, The
Heart Park, right in the middle of down-
town Reykjavík. We had little in terms of
resources for our first event—what we did
have in spades were great artists, excellent
musicians and a passion for the project. It
all worked out beautifully.
After a successful trial run we wanted
to keep going, so we did. The next two
years were great, although not without
their challenges. At the time, I was work-
ing for an Icelandic online music store
called Gogoyoko, doing marketing and
events, so they collaborated with us on
the festival. Upon returning to work after
vacation, my boss at Gogoyoko was pretty
pissed that I had devoted the summer of
2011 into preparing what became a huge
Festisvall, which took place at six venues
with around 3,000 attendees.
In 2012, the gallery we meant to stage
Festisvall at folded with little notice. Un-
deterred, we cleared everything out of
my apartment, painted it white and trans-
formed it into a white cube exhibition
space. You find ways. And on we went.
Eventually, we sensed it was time to do
something new, something fun.
Leipzig. Yes let's move to Leipzig. My
family and I packed up and went to Ger-
many in 2013. At the time, we had a pretty
good team around the festival. We got a
huge grant from the European Union,
which was nice, so we had plenty of re-
sources to do a bunch of art.
We brought five Leipzigers and a Brit-
ish guy to Iceland for collaboration and
exhibition, and were also able to bring
fifteen Icelandic artist and musicians to
Leipzig. It was great; we had two wonder-
ful galleries working with us, an under-
ground club and a tiny museum (I guess it
was about four square metres).
After the party, we found we still had
some of that EU money left—enough to
stage another exhibit and some more con-
certs. So we did!
This whole process has been very
challenging, entertaining and a great
learning experience for all of us involved.
It has been hard at times, but sometimes
easy, always fun—and we’ve made some
great friends! What started off as a small,
impromptu event in downtown Reykjavík
has become an active, vibrant network be-
tween Iceland and Germany that actively
enables young up and coming artists to go
abroad and play.
It is only through our great and grow-
ing team, and its abundant passion for the
project, that we have accomplished this
feat and hopefully made a few people’s
lives more interesting in the process. In-
spired by our triumphs, small and large,
we are nowhere near finished, constantly
reaching out to new venues and places to
expand the party.
This year, we’re going bigger than
ever before, and it’s going to be fantastic!
We made it to five years! We are fünf!
We are celebrating the occasion by going
to four cities, starting with a party at the
Kex Hostel and at Vitagarður in August
(you should come), before heading off
to an underground club in Leipzig. After
that, we’re staging an exhibition in Somos
in Berlin, a party with Samaris, Berndsen,
Hermigervill, M-Band and Good Moon
Deer at Berghain and we finish off with
the great Mediamatic in Amsterdam, fea-
turing an exhibition, performances and
concerts.
While doing this we also decided to
form a creative studio where we aim to
gather all of our power, network and ex-
perience to make good things happen. We
decided that this was the next logical step,
and it has thus far been a pretty interest-
ing ride to watch Studio Festisvall come to
live.
Writing this, I’ve been thinking about
the last five years. This has been one hell
of ride, and with great friends, support
from my family and the team around us
we have managed to accomplish some
great things. Dear future: As I see what we
have been able to do, as artists sticking to-
gether and working towards a shared goal,
I can’t help but look forward to see where
you’ll have lead us in another five years.
Dear reader: Whether you’re current-
ly in Reykjavík, Leipzig, Berlin or Amster-
dam, come and join us for this fifth year of
Festisvall. We’re looking forward to seeing
you guys!
One love!
Árni Már Erlingsson is an artist and
co-founder of the Festisvall art festi-
val. More information at
www.festisvall.com
Festisvall Reykjavík happens on August 19-
22 at various venues in Reykjavík. Along
with exhibiting the work of various artists,
the Reykjavík edition of Festisvall will host
performances by Berndsen, Good Moon
Deer, M-Band, Hermigervill and EAST OF
MY YOUTH.
ART
FESTIVAL
Photo Festisvall
Words Árni Már Erlingsson
Guys! I Want To Tell You
About Festisvall!
Festisvall
Hi, dear readers. My name is Árni Már and I’m here to tell
you about an annual arts and music festival type thing that
I along with a few of my friends established five years ago.
It’s called Festisvall, it’s been steadily growing since its in-
ception, and I think you’ll like it.
August 19-22
Various Venues
around Reykjavík