Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Síða 37

Art
travelled across Iceland playing in different lighthouses along the way.
THE HOUSE AT EYRARBAKKI

Opening hours: May 15th - September 15th daily 11.00-18.00 or by an agreement
Tel: +354 483 1504 & +354 483 1082 | husid@husid.com | www.husid.com
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 House at Eyrarbakki37
28 m/s 34 m/s - turbine shutdownOptimal conditions for electricity generation
are starting to frizz was probably knit by the wearer's
mother. Sorry ma.
6. The crunch of cans being kicked
across the gritty cement.
On Saturday night LungA was abruptly shaken awake by
it’s own advertisement as a “youth festival,” and kicked
up both the “youth” and the “festival” for a seven-act
concert. Two stages faced one another at the edge of the
fjörd, separated by a boat-bar that was spontaneously
constructed over the course of the week using only found
materials (including the boat). The harbour's walls were
smothered in graffiti, a string of patio lights swung from
the boat-bar's mast, and flags of shredded fabric flut-
tered overhead. Coupled with a thick fog that changed
colours as festivalgoers set off tinted smoke bombs, the
scene was both apocalyptic and entirely charming at the
same time.
From July 14–21, 2013 the East Coast village of Seyð-
isfjörður opened its doors, doubled in population, and
hosted the convergence of these details. The result was
a festival unlike any other breed of festival in Iceland.
As long-time LungA participant Goddur put it: “there is
a certain spirit here that is difficult to explain for those
who haven’t experienced it...It’s like trying to describe a
sexual climax to people who have never had a sexual cli-
max. Seyðisfjörður is a creative sexual climax—you just
have to experience it to understand it.”
Kicking It New School
by Parker Yamasaki
Anyone who has attended LungA will confirm: the spirit of the festival lives on long after the last confetti
flutters into the fjörd. In 2010 that sentiment was strongly felt, and an idea was pitched to foster that spirit
throughout the year. Three years later, Jonatan Spejlborg Jensen and Björt Sigfinnsdóttir stood with pride
in their eyes in front of a lecture-hall of festival attendees to announce the materialisation of that idea, the
LungA School. It's what Jonatan describes as the "ambitious offspring of the festival," a symbiosis of playful
LungA spirit and a little bit of pedagogy.
LungA school is the first of its type in Iceland. In December 2012, the school received funding from the
Ministry of Education and Culture, and according to Jonatan they are still engaging in a healthy dialogue.
With its inauguration, Jonatan hopes that they can help open up the system to more small, private and cre-
ative educational opportunities in Iceland.
The ideals of the school are adopted straight from the festival. “The experience is the first part of the whole
learning cycle,” Jonatan explains. The curriculum focuses “less around theory as the foundation and more
about theory to support the experience.” Do first, reflect second. Like the mild-mannered cousin to the “it's
better to ask forgiveness than permission” approach.
The ‘experience’ that LungA school promotes is realised through workshops that run every other week
during the four-month semester at LungA school. “In creating arts, the final piece becomes static,” he con-
tinues, “but the process itself is super interesting to dive into. It's not your ability to form a piece of art when
you get here that is important, it's your will and curiosity to explore a given medium.” He references a couple
of the workshops going on inside the festival, as we speak. “Look at the dance workshop, for instance. There
are really professional dancers in there alongside some who have never danced at all. Both of them are pick-
ing up a lot of experience, a lot of valuable experience.”
The LungA School is now officially accepting applications, and the doors open for the first time on March
10, 2014 for a 4-week long “beta-session.” Applicants must be 18 years or older. Fall semester runs August
25–December 9. You can find the programme, curriculum, and more information about LungA school online
at their website: www.lunga.is/school.
Alisa Kalyanova