Reykjavík Grapevine - 20.05.2016, Síða 34

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Reykjavík Arts Festival
34
The Hot Button column looks at an single issue
that's had Icelanders' chins wagging recently.
“In some places, the world has never been
as open, tolerant, equal and free. In others,
we have gone back many centuries.”
This Complex World
Reykjavík Arts Festival continues the celebration of
female artists and human rights
Words by Hrefna Björg Gylfadóttir & John Rogers
Along with the ever-lighter nights, and the
occasional excitement of double-digit tem-
peratures, the Reykjavík Arts Festival is a
welcome harbinger that summer is here. Now
in its 46th year, 30th edition, the festival gives
the people of Reykjavík an opportunity to cel-
ebrate the change of seasons by staging a va-
riety of big outdoor events and a rich mixture
of art, dance, music, theatre, openings and
parties.
The director of the festival is Hanna Styr-
misdóttir, who decided that the 2015 theme—
human rights and celebrating women in
art—was too big a subject for just one year’s
programme. With that in mind, the 2016 edi-
tion—‘SÍÐARI HLUTI’ (“Part II”)—will con-
tinue to explore these areas.
“Last year we celebrated the 100th anni-
versary of women’s suffrage in Iceland,” says
Hanna. “But I didn’t want the theme to be a
one-off, so we decided to spread the theme
over two festivals.”
Body of work
Hanna’s aim this year was to expand the
range of work on offer and go deeper into
each area. “Artists reflect their times,” she
explains. “We wanted to broaden our horizon
and look specifically at narratives of artists
regardless of gender, which engage with and
reflect aspects of social struggles. Our ideas
of freedom and equality, of human rights,
are centred on the body and the body is at the
centre of this year’s programme.”
The approach taken this year was differ-
ent, too. “In 2015 we commissioned artworks
by female artists, focused on women’s mat-
ters,” says Hanna. “This year, however, we in-
stead looked at the artists’ backgrounds and
their stories. We picked FlexN, a street dance
group composed of men and women; ‘Lucre-
zia’ by Handel, performed by Symphonia An-
gelica; and other performances that focus on
different aspects of women’s reality—which
sadly isn’t always positive.”
Crucial connections
With a year having passed since the festival
started its tenacious investigation into the
institutional problems faced by women art-
ists and marginalised groups, we asked Han-
na: Has anything improved in the last year?
“It depends on your viewpoint,” she says.
“In some places, the world has never been as
open, tolerant, equal and free. In other parts,
we have gone back many centuries; rights
that have been gained have been lost in tragic
ways. Our world has always been complex
but now that we know more of it, it’s become
more complex still.”
“For me, a festival like the Reykjavík Arts
Festival is essentially about opening up this
complex world, so that we can become more
understanding of and engaged in what is
happening globally,” she finishes. “If we love
a performance of Indian Kuchipudi, then we
may also become more engaged and interest-
ed in Indian history and contemporary cul-
ture and life in general. And that connection
has never been more crucial.”
Drawing connections between widely
varying cultural practises is a big part of Han-
na’s job at the festival. She speaks with pride
about the range on offer at the imminent
new edition, from the San Francisco Ballet
and Iceland Symphony Orchestra performing
works by Helgi Tómasson, to dance perfor-
mances by FlexN and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui &
Shantala Shivalingappa.
But given its popularity, it surprised many
that the 2016 edition will be the festival’s final
annual edition, with the next event scheduled
for 2018. Even as Reykjavík’s cultural scene is
blossoming, Hanna explains that after four
years at the helm of the festival, her philoso-
phy is that less can be more.
“I think we should do less, but with more
care,” she explains. “The explosion of culture
in Reykjavík over the last few years is a fantas-
tic thing—it has transformed everyday life in
this city. But it also calls for a more strategic
approach to what we are doing in the arts in
general. There is a need for a larger, bolder,
more powerful multi-disciplinary platform
than the Reykjavík Arts Festival can be as an
annual event.”
So, it’ll be two years before this most pre-
cious event on Reykjavík’s cultural calendar
returns, bigger and better than ever—all the
more reason to enjoy this one while it lasts.
The 2016 Reykjavík Arts Festival is held between
May 21st and June 5th. Check out the programme
at http://en.listahatid.is.