Reykjavík Grapevine - okt 2020, Qupperneq 12

Julius & Claire, sharply visible
Seemingly random, in front of
wood paneling and amid shelves
of books, an odd looking, torn,
bright yellow dress hung in the
Ger!uberg Library this month;
almost like a phantom apparition.
Made from stitched together rub-
ber gloves, Ewa Marcinek’s art
piece, ‘Second Skin,’ was accom-
panied by a music piece featur-
ing voice recordings of a Polish
woman named Anna who came to
Iceland. But ‘Second Skin’ was not
alone. In fact, Reykjavík has been
peppered with similarly-themed
public installations over the past
month as part of the exhibition
‘Vestur í bláinn,’ which aimed to
tell the story of immigrants in
Iceland through the lens of both
foreign and Icelandic artists.
Coming together
The initial idea for the project
came from the mind of musician
Julius Rothlaender, known for his
work in bands like
BSÍ, Laura Secord
and Vil. He was
looking for an op-
portunity to de-
velop his compo-
sitions while also
tackling a topic
that had been on
his mind for a
while: Immigra-
tion.
“[Vestur í
bláinn] started
as an experiment
to bring together
music I had written over the past
year and spoken word,” Julius
says. “More specifically, it would
focus on the topic of immigration,
which has been something I’ve
personally been thinking about.”
Along with putting his own ex-
periences into the budding proj-
ect, the musician aimed to create a
space for other voices to be heard,
both musically and visually. Cue
the arrival of French artist Claire
Paugam, a board member of the
Living Art Museum and the win-
ner of the 2020 Icelandic Art
Prize’s Motivational Award. Julius
contacted her, she explains, and
the idea for the project immedi-
ately resonated—particularly its
emphasis on diversity.
“Those voices you hear in this
music are not [often] heard in the
Icelandic media, so we thought
it would be cool to have them be
present in public locations,” Claire
explains. “So, that’s also how the
concept of the exhibition came
up. How can we have these voices
accessible to everyone? Then later
the idea came up to give sound
pieces to local artists which they
could then base their work on.”
The exhibition features works
of such artists as Eva Bjarnadóttir,
Hugo Llanes, Melanie Ubaldo and
Bára Bjarnadóttir.
Shared experiences
Julius’ sound pieces have now been
compiled into a ‘Vestur í bláinn’
album. ’The musician moulded
his compositions around con-
versations he heard in different
languages, ultimately creating a
musical response
to the everyday di-
alogue you might
hear in Hlemmur
or Vesturbæjar-
laug.
“I thought a
lot about letting
people talk in
their own lan-
guage. People
won’t understand
the words maybe,
but I relate to the
sound of the hu-
man voice and
language. It’s a connecting ele-
ment,” he says.
“Do you hear me?”
Claire emphasises that the project
was built on a foundation of empa-
Culture 12The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 08— 2020
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“This thing we’re
all longing for is
having someone
to hear us and
to connect with
us. That’s what
makes us hu-
man.”
Creatin!
Visibility
With
Sound
Julius Rothlaender and Claire
Pau!am present an audio-visual
exhibition on immi!ration

Words: Catherine Magnúsdóttir Photos: Art Bicnick & Claire Paugam
Music/Art
Check out the 'Vestur í bláinn'
album on Bandcamp. All proceeds
will go to No Borders Iceland.