Reykjavík Grapevine


Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.03.2017, Blaðsíða 24

Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.03.2017, Blaðsíða 24
Klingenberg, the svelte, gray-haired, vape-huffing Icelander who first ini- tiated Kling & Bang. “We had a space between two booths, but we brought forty artists and some bands, and somehow squeezed everyone in to- gether. What I remember most about it was just trying to stay alive and get through it… we had some loud music performances, and we were almost asked to leave after the first night.” He pauses, and smiles. “Someone pulled some strings, and we got to stay.” A pack of wolves The project was born in the pre-boom, pre-crash Reykjavík of 2003. “I’d been living in Copenhagen for a few years,” says Erling. “I’d wanted to start a gallery there—it was at a time when you could still get a building for cheap. There’d been lots of meetings, but no action... it was going too slowly for me. Then I came back to Iceland, and there were really no artist-run galleries left. Nothing was happening for younger artists.” Then a space on Laugavegur came to his attention, initially for studio use. “It was such a perfect space for a gallery,” says Erling. “It reignited that old idea. I asked if we could find a stu- dio somewhere else, and use it as a gal- lery, then called up some people who were doing interesting things at that time. And so it began.” One of the ten multi-tasking artists he contacted was Daníel Björnsson. Daníel was living in Berlin, shortly af- ter graduating, when his phone rang unexpectedly. “I got a call from Erling,” he recalls. “We were acquaintances— the Icelandic art scene is quite tight, so everyone knows each other. He told me that he and Gurra Benónýsdóttir had acquired a house at Laugavegur 23. They wanted to start a collective, and make a platform for young artists. The only artist-run space, at Hlem- mur, was closing down, and NÝLÓ was between houses. There was nothing. It was bleak.” “What Erling did was quite bril- liant,” he continues, “in that he didn’t ask all his closest friends to be a part of it. He asked people he’d met and been interested with working with over the years, until there were ten.” That ten has evolved over the years, but five of the original members re- main on the board alongside five new- er recruits, including Ingibjörg, who joined in 2010. “You never really quit, though,” says Daníel. “The older ones are always popping up. Some art insti- tutions have strict procedures on do- ing things. But Kling & Bang is more like a pack of wolves.” Into space Kling & Bang’s first location was at Laugavegur 23, on the first floor above where the Macland store is today. “It was kind of at the beginning of the boom,” remembers Daníel. “There was a tension in the air—contractors were buying up all the houses downtown and talking about tearing it all out to build strip malls. Laugavegur 23 was one of those houses. The contractor rented it out to us cheap on the condi- tion we kept it nice.” Kling & Bang’s arrival was well- received by the art scene of the city. “We built up the walls, and Börkur Jónsson had an exhibition ready,” says Daníel. “We just did it. People—espe- cially those who are entwined in the art scene—are usually really grateful when someone does this in Iceland. It’s important, this collectivising. NÝLÓ has a collection about all the past artist-run spaces in Iceland. It’s been happening throughout the last cen- tury, but it’s usually something that’s forgotten.” From the start, Kling & Bang’s fo- cus wasn’t on showing work by mem- bers of the collective, but on curating, facilitating and promoting exhibi- tions by other artists. “We all have an interest in broadening dialogues, and building things as a unit,” explains Daníel. “That’s also why we started executing shows by foreign artists. It seems to be possible to make things happen quickly here in Iceland, that couldn’t happen as easily elsewhere. People are closer together here, and they’re willing to just do something.” The collective Erling assembled also had myriad connections to other scenes, through their individual ca- reers and extended social circles, and through studying abroad. “Everyone in this ragtag collective was com- ing back to Iceland from somewhere else,” says Daníel. “That was the tra- ditional way, back them—to do your foundation course in Iceland, then to do your degree abroad. That gave us the ability to show and mobilise other artists.” To Erling, it was a mixture of in- stinct and serendipity. “It was all quite spontaneous,” he explains. “I asked people who were doing something interesting, and many of them had been studying in dif- ferent places, so when we all came together, we had a good, wide net- work. That became a strength— t hese br idges to ot her places.” All the way to the BanK A year after opening, Kling & Bang were approached by Landsbankinn, who had an empty building available for use by Hlemmur in Reykjavík 101. Unbeknownst to the gallery, Lands- bankinn had been keeping an eye on their progress. “They said they’d been watching us for a year,” says Daníel. “They didn’t really know us, but they’d done a sur- vey, asking people who could pull off a project like this. And apparently we came out top. So they offered us the house—not really any money, but the building, and to pay the real-estate taxes. We had it for nine months, to do whatever we wanted.” What resulted was an explosive coming-together of people in various creative disciplines. Kling & Bang placed ads in the news- papers, and selected 140 artists from 500 applicants to use the space however they saw fit. The building was dubbed KlinK & BanK, and quickly became a labyrinthine hub for of all sorts of happenings, openings, collaborations, parties, seminars and blow-out events. Erling described the project for a 2007 Grapevine interview: “What hap- pened in KlinK & BanK was that people from different fields like music, visual art and dance got to know each other, and it influenced their artistic work. One could see all kinds of art in the same space. People started working together on projects, and it acted as an inspiration to see what other people were working on. The house created a conversation between different types of art, and opened up new types of col- laboration. That inspiration and com- munication continued to develop after people had moved out.” It’s a sentiment echoed by top Ice- landic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. His f i r s t e v e r s o l o show took place in Kling & Bang’s Laugavegur loca- tion, and he was one of the artists who took up resi- dence in the KlinK & BanK building. “That period had a profound effect on me,” says Rag- nar. “I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if I hadn’t had those months working there. It completely changed my whole world- view. It felt so natural, and unforced. It was interesting to not just mingle with other artists in the bar, but in your working space. I’d be practising with my band in one room, and then doing visual art next door. It leaked into the DNA of the scene, and it be- came the model of how I work today.” Butt plug factory After eighteen months, the KlinK & BanK project came to an end, and the building was eventually torn down. “We really got shamed for it lat- er, after IceSave happened,” laughs Daníel. “We got annihilated for the collaboration. But if I could go back “KlinK & BanK had a profound effect on me. It leaked into the DNA of the scene, and became the model of how I work today.” - Ragnar Kjartansson 24 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 03 — 2017
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