Reykjavík Grapevine - okt. 2020, Blaðsíða 13

thy. After Julius finished the mu-
sical tracks, they were then given
to the visual artists, whose job was
to interpret the voices, find some
creative and personal relationship
to them and create the final prod-
uct.
“There’s this art piece at Hlem-
mur by the artist ÚaVon who de-
scribes this very well,” she recalls.
“In the music piece she worked
with, you hear a bus driver. At one
point, he asks ‘Do you hear me?’
That sentence really resonated
with her … she says that the thing
we all long for is to have someone
to hear us and to connect with us.
That’s what makes us human.”
What onlookers and listeners
take away from the pieces is up to
them. With the project exhibiting
in public spaces, Julius likes the
idea that people might just stum-
ble upon the artwork without look-
ing for it. He particularly hopes
that people who maybe don’t often
go to art galleries and venues get
to experience the exhibition.
Into the blue
The namesake of the project is the
1975 RÚV documentary ‘Vestur í
bláinn’. In fact, Julius’ track “Sa-
lomé & Björn,” and its connected
art piece “Driftwood” directly ref-
erence the subject matter of the
original documentary.
The film documents the late
19th century emigration of Ice-
landers, when almost a quarter
of the nation resettled mostly in
North America in search of a bet-
ter life and hoping to escape the
poverty and hunger that marked
the time. The documentary fea-
tured interviews with people who
had been part of the emigration
wave, like the aforementioned
Salomé and Björn, who discuss
the journey and the difficulties of
starting a new life in a new land.
The interviews greatly influenced
Julius’ work and the emotions be-
hind it.
“There’s this poem by a man
writing to his friend, who’s leav-
ing Iceland and he more or less
asks him, ‘Are you leaving, my
friend, out into the west, into the
blue?’” he recalls. “I just think that
no matter which country we’re
talking about, there’s always a
story of people, then and now,
moving to other countries looking
for a better life and … I felt includ-
ing the Icelandic perspective could
give a little twist on how we look at
things from here and at the people
coming here.”
Opening doors
Claire adds that with the testi-
monies of Icelandic immigrants
as well, there’s an incitement to
think about the cycle of migration.
“Talking to other artists, we
thought about how plants migrate,
how objects can migrate, how ev-
erything is constantly moving. It’s
really good to be reminded of that.
Sometimes it’s too easy to be stuck
in a state of things that you think
will be true forever,” she points
out.
But ‘Vestur í bláinn’ is not there
to make any specific point about
immigration, Claire and Julius
emphasise. Instead, the exhibi-
tion aims to open doors and pro-
voke conversation and introspec-
tion by presenting real narratives
of people who live in Iceland. The
take-away, the two collaborators
conclude, can be as personal as
each individual feels it to be.
From Ger!uberg - 'Second Skin'
by Ewa Marcinek
From Hlemmur - 'Being Between' by ÚaVon
From Andr"mi - 'Warm Blue'
by Claire Paugam
From Ka# Laugalækur - 'Dri$wood' by Ewa Marcinek
13The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2020
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