Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.05.2019, Blaðsíða 32

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The Layers
Of Love
A conversation with a rock star
about love and emptiness
Words & Photos: Valur Grettisson
Performance
‘Komdu á Rúntinn’ took place May
20th. Follow Brynhildur’s work at
brynhildurkarls.wixsite.com
Brynhildur Karlsdóttir called me
on a Monday evening and told me
that she was picking me up. She
had invited me to her gradua-
tion piece from the Performing
Arts programme at the Icelandic
Academy of the Arts, calling it
‘Komdu á Rúntinn,’ or ‘Come and
drive with me.’ Avid readers of
Reykjavík Grapevine might also
know her as the incredibly ener-
getic lead singer of Hórmónar.
Look them up. Trust me, you won’t
regret it.
Tragedy in the air
I felt a kind of suspense when I sat
in the car with this petite 24-year-
old, who greeted me with a sincere
smile. She explained to me imme-
diately that we were going to talk
about love, and it would be a jour-
ney through places and stories in
her own life.
After stopping at Aktu Taktu
for some food, we drove to the har-
bour, where we sat and watched
the grey sky over Esjan. “This was
the first place I confessed my love
to my boyfriend,” she said. They
broke up only months afterwards.
She played ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’
by Etta James, and
said that they also
had f r ies a nd a
strawberry shake
in this same place.
There was trag-
edy in the air as we
sat in the car and
watched the ocean.
We had a conversation about the
short time that this affair had
lasted, how she felt, and why it
ended. The confession lingered
on the harbour, invisible to the
naked eye, stored in Brynhildur’s
heart, and that of her past lover.
And now, with me.
Love and dishes
“When I start to love, I begin im-
agining things,“ she said, driving
again. “First I imagine me and the
guy in innocent situations. Then it
evolves. I imagine us together, as
artists in Berlin, in an apartment
filled with paintings and ampli-
fiers. Then I think about us with
kids. And I sometimes imagine
myself doing the dishes, watching
our children out of the window.” I
asked why she connected her love
to day-to-day, and doing the dish-
es? She had no definite answer.
Perhaps there is none.
The voice recording
After a while, she stopped the
car, rolled herself a cigarette, and
went out for a smoke. I would stay
behind and listen to a voice re-
cording. As I watched her back,
and the smoke rising into the still
air, I listened to a heartbreaking
confession—how she battled with
herself. How she felt little control
when it comes to intimacy. How
she’s empty, depressed, and full
of anxiety.
I felt the void inside her as I
listened. She took the final drags
of her cigarette and returned to
the car. Something
had changed between
us. There was some-
thing delicate in the
moment. My f irst
instinct was to give
her advice. But I had
none. I told her I also
felt confused when I
was 24, and that everybody has to
figure things out for themselves.
Heart pieces
Love is a popular topic in art.
But how often do we have a real
conversation about it with the
artist? This project relates to the
intimate performances of Marina
Abramovic; but at the same time,
it’s an honest attempt to grasp the
void inside of ourselves—that we
try to fill with love. It reminded
me of the complexity of emotions,
and youthful confusion.
It felt odd being handed a piece
of someone’s heart. It was a pow-
erful and sincere performance,
and a fleeting one—there will be
no more of these drives for now.
I’m curious to see what Brynhil-
dur will create next, because this
circumstance and conversation
had a surprisingly powerful im-
pact on me.
Art
“When I start
to love, I begin
imagining
things.”
Not your average Uber driver
i8 Gallery
Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
info@i8.is
t: +354 551 3666
www.i8.is
Stúdíó Ólafur Elíasson
open Tuesday to Sunday 12 - 6pm
and until 9 pm on Thursdays
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