Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Síða 36

Listen To Your Art
Getting to know LungA by the details
In many ways, the details of Lun-
gA—a young artists’ festival held
in Seyðisfjörður every July for over
ten years now—are best captured
in just such a way. The festival is a
compilation of weeklong workshops
spotted with lectures, concerts and
performances of various kinds. But
LungA is also composed of small
elements not boldly listed in the
festival’s programme. The festival is
defined by details that go unnoticed
until they're gone—until the party’s
over and our ears have adjusted to
the silence.
1. A cardboard box full of frozen
fish, sliding across the back of a
gutted van.
The fish belonged to a local Bistro in
Seyðisfjörður, the van belonged to a
bartender at the Bistro, our free-of-
charge taxi driver over the mountain
from the main hub Egilsstaðir to the
isolated Seyðisfjörður. It's an easy
hitchhike over the hill, because there
is only one road that leads to LungA.
Basically, if a car is driving on this
road, that car is going to Seyðis-
fjörður.
2. A steady stream of coffee, and the
gurgle of the container's last drops.
The well-being of its participants
was paramount for this festival. Ev-
erybody was provided with shelter
and sleeping pads, three meals a
day, and of course, plenty of cof-
fee. In the main hall a group of vol-
unteers collaborated with cafeteria
staff to keep the nutrients, and the
caffeine, flowing.
3. Sharp creaks of wind hitting
corrugated metal, dull thumps of
hammers hitting wood.
Sounds destruction and construc-
tion littered the side of the road
through Seyðisfjörður, where work-
shops took place. One didn’t neces-
sarily have to be involved in a partic-
ular workshop to be exposed to the
process of creation over the week of
LungA. Next to the red schoolhouse,
a participant in the “Expansion of
the Oscillators” workshop drills
holes into her homemade wood-
wind instrument. Up the road a
“Personal Spaces” participant saws
two-by-fours to build a self-standing
sun structure. Down at the harbour,
a pirate group reclaims wooden pal-
lets and fire bins, giving them new
purpose as a fully functioning bar
patio come Saturday.
4. The constant roar of water.
One way in, and one way out. It's
like Willy Wonka's chocolate fac-
tory. Instead of ominous smoke-
stacks and dry concrete walls,
though, Seyðisfjörður is separated
from the outside world by a winding
mountain pass that snakes between
half-frozen lakes, rushing waterfalls,
and vibrant slopes of green. At the
bottom of the switchback mountain
road lies Seyðisfjörður, every bit as
fantastic and whimsical as the in-
side of Wonka’s factory. Waterfalls
cut through the mountainside and
spill out underneath the town into
the fjörd.
5. Wool.
Okay, it's more of a feeling. But it
is worth mentioning because it is a
feeling so distinct to music festivals
in Iceland. Back in my native Califor-
nia, the "feeling" of an outdoor mu-
sic festival is something more along
the lines of sweaty, sleeveless arm-
skin sticking to you, forcing you to
move as the crowd moves. Here in
Iceland, the only discomfort comes
from knowing that the sweater you
Art
Over the bustle of the LungA lunch buffet one morning, Marteinn Sindri Jónsson sat with stick-like posture, listening to the
sounds of the cafeteria "without bias," as he put it, just like a microphone would. Earlier that day, his radio workshop “Waves
of Ether” had done a similar exercise in an abandoned factory, sitting in silence for ten minutes in order to ‘tune’ our ears: to
prepare them for optimal hearing. Coming out into the rainy, fog-spotted morning, we listened with renewed clarity to the back-
ground sounds we were used to tuning out: drops of rain tapping the ground, a faraway waterfall, the shuffling of rubble, the
crinkling of fabric.
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3 m/s - electricity generation begins 15 m/s
Into the wind
Visitors are welcome to the interactive exhibition on renewable energy at
Búrfell hydropower station, a 90 minute drive from Reykjavik. North of the
station you will find Landsvirkjun’s first wind turbines, part of our research
into the possibilities of wind farming in Iceland. Guided tours of the wind
turbines every Saturday in July 1 - 5 pm.
Landsvirkjun is the National Power Company of Iceland.
Open daily, June-August, 10 am to 5 pm:
Búrfell Hydro Power Station
Interactive exhibition on renewable energy
Fljótsdalur Hydro Power Station
Végardur Visitor Centre
Krafla Geothermal Station
Visitor Centre
More info and route instructions at
www.landsvirkjun.com/visitus
The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 11 — 2013
by Vala Þóroddsdóttir and Parker Yamasaki
Flights to Egilsstaðir provided by Air Iceland, book
flight at www.airiceland or call +354-5703000
Paula Prats Paula Prats