Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2016, Page 31

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We’re expecting a busy summer but you
can check-in 2 1/2 hours before departure
and have plenty of time for refreshments
and shopping in KEF.
We offer unlimited free Wi-Fi, many
charging stations and a range of nice
restaurants and stores. Icelandic design
and quality brands tax and duty free
at the Airport.
German environmental concept
artist Michael Thomas spent ten
beautiful days in the Westfjörds
building installations with flotsam.
The three huge sculptures—the
largest almost eight metres long—
are now standing proudly on West
Iceland soil. They are "Earth Valve,”
“Ironbird's Nest,” and “Spaceship
Mitschdóttir”—this last, the big-
gest, which the artist named after
himself.
The aim of these installations is
to release the pressure humans cre-
ate on our planet, Michael claims:
“The idea of building installations
to Iceland was born three weeks
ago in Germany. My wife Angela
and her friend spent holidays in
Iceland and found places in the
Westfjörds with lots of driftwood
and flotsam. She called me, sent
me photos and prompted me to
book a flight. So I arrived with an
idea and a bicycle. All expectations
were exceeded. It was like coming
to the place with nothing and leav-
ing the place with nothing, except
some temporary manipulations
and a photo documentation there-
of.” Michael now must travel back
home and abandon the sculptures
to their fate.
Michael adds that he really
worked terrifically hard on these
sculptures, and feels a bit sad to
just leave his three babies here.
“I woke up early in the mornings
and cycled to the place near Kal-
drananes where I was building
them. Sometimes it was raining
and my muscles were tired of hard
work, but I proceeded till the late
night,” he says. “But,” he adds, “I took
pictures of them and the process and
the meaning of that all is the thing
that really matters.“
All around the world
Despite the fact that Icelandic wa-
ters are among the cleanest in the
world and the country is famous
for its unspoiled natural beauty,
Michael still found materials, both
driftwood and plastic, to use in his
installations. “Although my move-
ment radius has been limited here
in Iceland, I can say that the Icelan-
dic environment looks very pretty
and healthy,” he explains. “Except
some coast regions where plas-
tic waste in all sizes was washed
ashore.”
But flotsam isn’t the only ma-
terial he works with: “I use lots of
materials usually given to me by
fortune. For example, my valve
with the most parts consists of ten
thousand sustainable Danish ice
cream sticks, and the heaviest and
largest one is made of iron railway
sleepers.” Michael adds that Ice-
land isn’t the only place where he
has unleashed his artistic mind.
He started off in Germany and
then began to conquer the world. “I
have built installations in the USA,
Kenya, Dubai, Austria and France.
Three continents, Australia, South
America and Antarctica, are so far
without pressure compensation.
All invitations of these regions are
welcome.”
It all began with a
sandcastle
Though Michael loves to work with
materials that nature provides,
and to travel the world while build-
ing installations and raising peo-
ple’s environmental awareness, he
can’t quit his day job. “Installations
are only one part of my concep-
tual work and painting another,”
he admits. “Recently a German art
critic called me an ‘aesthetic mor-
alist.’ Well, I'm part of the system
because I’m making money with
commercial paintings, and scruti-
nize it simultaneously with instal-
lations like ‘Earth Valve,’ ‘Spaceship
Mitschdóttir’ and ‘Ironbird's Nest’.”
But how did it all begin? Michael
says he built his first installation
from flotsam back in 1974, when
he was a little boy. “I was on holi-
days with my parents in Romania
and I decorated my sandcastle with
driftwood,” Michael recalls. In Ice-
land, Michael hasn’t had a chance
to go to beach, but he says that he
still enjoys summer in this cold
country: “It surprises me that here
in Iceland summer days are nev-
erending and the people look into
your eyes when they talk to you.”
Concerts & Nightlife Listings
May 20 - June 2
Art It's all around you
“Spaceship
Mitschdóttir”
Standing Gloriously In The Westfjörds
Words GEIDI RAUD Photos MICHAEL THOMAS
31The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 10 — 2016