Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.08.2017, Qupperneq 44

Photography 44The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2017
The industrial revolution came late
to Iceland, if at all. The fishing fleet
was modernised and later we got fish
freezing plants and alu-
minium smelters, but
certainly no large scale
19th century factories
run on coal and steam.
Therefore, steampunk
might seem out of place
here. Or perhaps this is
just the place for it, har-
kening back to a past that
never existed.
For three years, the Ice-
landic Steampunk Festi-
val was held in Bílduda-
lur, but has now moved
to the town of Akranes,
a 45 minute drive (or 25
minute boat ride) from
Reykjavík. There is even
a shop-slash-café, Du-
larfulla búðin (The Mys-
terious Shop), which is
something of a year-
round Steampunk festi-
val.
Dukes and Duchesses
Proprietor Ingimar Oddsson looks
the part, wearing Victorian gentle-
man’s ensemble with an impressive
moustache appendix. The waitress
goes half-way, with a corset-and-jeans
combo. The guests are also properly at-
tired, this after all, being the season for
Steampunk. I am here on a Sunday, so
many erstwhile Dukes and Duchesses
are still sleeping it off. They tell me that
the night before was
busy, with gin and
tonic a particular
favourite. There
were also games of
the sort that have
become a festival
staple. Among these
are bicycle jousting,
wherein men with
suitcase in one hand and umbrella in
the other try to push each other of a
bike. There is also something for the la-
dies, a race where
women carrying
mops and other
household arti-
cles try to outrun
one another while
having a washtub
chained to their
ankles. An hom-
age to the plight
of 19th century
women. One of
the most popular
is the tea duel,
wherein contes-
tants dip biscuit
in tea and then
try to hold them
upright for a s
long as they can
before they break.
“ S o m e p e o p l e
walk around with
tea bags on their
hats and biscuits
in their pockets, challenging all com-
ers,” Ingimar says.
HG Wells and Jules Verne
Today, however, the highlight is an
overview of the history of steampunk,
presented by Ingimar. In a sense, Ste-
ampunk has been around since the 19th
century–glimpsed in the fiction of writ-
ers like HG Wells and Jules Verne. And
in this sense there is a minor Icelandic
connection. As everyone knows, Jules
Verne’s ‘Journey to the Centre of the
Earth’ is set in Snæfellsjökull, which
can be glimpsed from the Akranes
shore, although that is one of Verne’s
less steampunk-y novels.
Teslapunk and Dieselpunk
The phrase steampunk was first coined
by a journalist in 1987 and the concept
has taken off since. There are various
subcultures of the genre: Such as Tesla-
punk, based on the inventor’s ideas;
dieselpunk, which is an alternative ‘30s
showcased in the movie ‘Sky Captain
and the World of Tomorrow’; and atom-
punk, which is largely based on Soviet
space age propaganda posters. Sadly,
steampunk’s major forays into cine-
ma, such as ‘Wild Wild West’ and ‘The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’,
have not been great successes.
Imaginary past
Steampunk in some ways sprang up
as an alternative to cyberpunk, which
was a ‘90s based longing for things to
come–during the last era when people
still believed in the future. But instead
of looking to the future,, the steam-
punks turned to an imaginary past. It is
interesting to note that many of the ste-
ampunks might otherwise have been
(or were) goths, emo or metal. As all
these genres are a revolution of sorts,
an escape from an increasingly oppres-
sive and bizarre reality, a way for people
of different countries to come together,
while embracing the same (imaginary)
culture. Perhaps it even makes more
sense than other imaginary communi-
ties, such as nations or religions. Here,
one is free to choose what one wants to
be and act out that fantasy.
Words & Photos:
Valur Gunnarson
“Proprietor
Ingimar
Oddsson
looks the
part, wearing
Victorian
gentleman’s
dress with
impressive
moustache
appendix.”
NO BUN
NO FUN
The Mad Hatters
of Akranes
A Steampunk Oasis Overlooking the Ocean