Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.06.2017, Qupperneq 48

Things 48The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 09 — 2017
Moondog,
Intestines &
Imaginary Places
Ásta Fanney's wild inspirations
Artist, Poet, Musician
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir is a super
active presence on Reykjavík’s cultural
scene. Whether writing poetry, perform-
ing spaced-out improv music, carrying
out mysterious art performances, or
performing as the singer of her band
aYia, Ásta is an ever-interesting artistic
polymath. Here are some of the formative
influences that helped her along the way.
Color: The Color of Pomegranates
(Film from 1969, Sergei Parajanov)
This film is wordless poetry. My friend
Gyða told me about it, I am very grate-
ful. It is so nice to see something so
poetic yet there are no words in it.
Paper: 1000 hours of staring
(1992-97, Tom Friedman)
This artist stared at a piece of paper
for 1000 hours. I like this artwork,
something so loaded just because
you give it meaning and value, which
goes with almost anything in life.
There is also an interesting connec-
tion to the worth of time in this piece.
Vultures: Intestins de Bouddha
(“Buddha’s Intestines,” 2006, Huang
Yong Ping)
I think I saw this ten years ago. What
I mostly liked about it is that it was so
simple and didn’t need much to have
an impact on you with this visual
language connected to the material.
Book: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
(1980, Alberto Manguel and Gianni
Guadalupi)
A very handy guide for looking
up places that don’t really exist.
Makeup: sadsalvia
T here i s th i s ma keup a r t i st I
found on Instagram called sad-
salvia, very strange stuff. I like it.
Detective: Columbo
There is a lot learn from this fel-
low. Columbo’s attitude towards
life in general is actually brilliant,
and it is strangely funny as well.
I think I mostly look at the art-
ist as being some kind of detective.
Children’s Book: The Little Prince
(1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
Beautiful, smart and simple. The
funny thing is that I never read this
book as a child, only got to know it
when I got a little more grown-up.
But the best children’s books are
maybe not really only for children.
Dada Poet: Hugo Ball
I think I first got to know this poet
as a teenager, I really liked the mix of
performance and poetry and the pos-
sibility of words beyond normal use.
It opened up a whole world for me.
Dog: Moondog
A very special character. A musician
and a poet and sometimes both at once.
Weird Rap: Death Grips
Strange use of the voice in this mu-
sic—how the words are glued in
the soundline. The lyrics are very
good and could work as poetry.

Random internet image: drömmer.jpg
I don’t remember where I saw this, it is a
little bit dramatic. I think some person
posted this on Facebook some years
ago. But I have it on my desktop, very
handy when your mind tends to wan-
der and focus on the wrong things.
MAKING OF
AN ARTIST
Words:
Ásta Fanney
Sigurðardóttir
Photo:
Magnús
Andersen
gpv.is/making
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“It is no nice to
see something
so poetic with no
words in it.”
NO BUN
NO FUN