Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2015, Qupperneq 22

22 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2015
experienced art as something so impor-
tant in one’s life.
Four more years
There is a sort of complicated
relationship between politics and
the arts, because there needs to be
someone making and safekeeping
artistic space. And it’s perhaps a
bit counterintuitive for artists to
think about their art from this
perspective—that is to say, not
from a creative, but rather a sort
of practical standpoint. Do you
think much about the political
dimensions of art? Perhaps with
regard to recent debates about
gender quotas in certain artistic
fields?
HG: I’m up for trying out gender quotas
wherever. If we’ve been around for a
couple thousand years and we’ve always
tilted to this one side, then I say: Can’t we
be the generation that tilts to the other
side for just a hundred years? Don’t we
have the endurance for at least that? I
say: Only women now in the upcoming
presidential race. There’s been a man for
twenty years, let’s just say: Only women
can run. Isn’t that just alright? I’m up
for having only women in positions of
power. Only women in Alþingi. Why
not? What have we got to lose? We’ve got
nothing to lose.
I don’t understand thinking only
in terms of four years. Everyone’s just
thinking as far as four years. When the
economic crash happened, people were
complaining after two years that things
hadn’t gotten better. I say: :Let’s think
about the country in terms of one hun-
dred years. That’s why I don’t under-
stand Kárahnjúkar [a highly disputed
dam project in east Iceland that was built
despite mass protests in the mid-aughts]
and I don’t understand aluminum smelt-
ers and I don’t understand people who
need jobs by tomorrow. Can’t we think
things a little more long-term? Do we not
have any endurance? These things don’t
even have to happen within the life-span
of my children—I’m ready to think in
terms of my grandchildren. Can’t it take
thirty or forty years? Just as long as we
know where we’re headed and we know
what we want, I think we can stand for
things to take a little time. We are in such
ideal conditions here, we should easily be
able to make an enviable,
long-term vision for the
future.
Would you run for
president?
HG: Me? I haven’t figured out yet a rea-
son why I should want to. But that’s just
because I haven’t plunged myself into
thinking about the position. If I got this
role in a movie or a play, I’m sure I would
find something interesting about it and
find freedom within the frame, you
know. If I were to do it I would have to
have a very clear vision of what I was go-
ing to do with it. Because I have no inter-
est in what it appears to be.
I saw the other day someone writing that
Jón Gnarr had been a clown of a Mayor.
And I just thought, where did this person
get that from? I can’t see that Jón Gnarr’s
mayoral term was anything but eye-
opening, for everyone.
Sort of like what you were talking
about earlier, humour leading one
towards some truth. That’s maybe
what he was doing in a way.
EÓ: I never imagined taking on a posi-
tion like the one I am in now, but some-
thing about how he
did things and tried to
discover new ways of
doing things was very
inspiring to me. To see
that shouldering this kind of formal re-
sponsibility doesn’t have to be limited to
doing things a certain way. It’s like that
for me to be in this position I am in now.
I’m thinking, “can I do it my way, or do
I have to do it like the people who came
before me…”
HG: Like it’s supposed to be done.
EÓ: Right. And what exactly is that? Like
it’s always been. Can’t it just be done a
little differently, maybe? That must also
be the reason I was asked to do this in
the first place. To do things a little dif-
ferently.
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Erna
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Occupation
“I’m the artistic director of the Iceland
Dance Company. I’m also a choreogra-
pher, dancer and performer. My job is
sometimes locked up in the office, but
I’m always trying to blend that with
some artistic things. I’m also a mother—
but that’s not a job, is it? Or maybe it is!"

Background
“I’ve been working as a performer with
companies and directors in Europe and
Belgium, and started in the meantime
doing my own dance works, and tour-
ing them in Europe. I have a project with
my partner also—a company called Sha-
lala—it sits between dance and music,
and works around concepts too. We call
it a "borderline musical” when we have
to describe it! I’ve curated dance festivals
too, in Iceland and France.”

Education
"I studied in Europe—I did dance initial-
ly as a hobby, and studied in Iceland, then
I went abroad to study in Rotterdam and
then Belgium at the PARTS school, and
got my diploma there."

Upcoming Projects
“Right now I’ve been working on re-
staging 'Blæði', a big piece from last year,
for some extra shows. Black Marrow, the
longest element of that piece, will then
go on tour. We’re also starting the sea-
son at the dance company with our new
choreographers—it’s going to be a very
exciting season! And I’ll be working on a
new piece myself based on a story from
an Icelandic saga. The company is also
working on a collaboration for the Reyk-
javík Arts Festival, something very big,
exciting and scary!”
“I love that pause,
because it’s like a
window. It’s a place
where you can
preach, and say all
sorts of things.”