Reykjavík Grapevine - nov 2020, Qupperneq 4

What Are Icelanders
Talkin! About?
The topics that are !ettin! people
banned from the comments
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photos: Art Bicnick, Ásgeir Bragi Ægisson
As with most countries,
the coronavirus pandemic
is at the forefront of Icelanders’
minds these days. With plans for
a vaccine now shaping up, as well
as now being able to boast the
lowest infection rate in Europe,
many Icelanders are beginning
to see the light at the end of the
tunnel—and not a moment too
soon, as the winter holidays are
rapidly approaching. However, two
MPs for the Independence Party—
Sigrí!ur Á. Andersen and Brynjar
Níelsson—have been very critical
of the pandemic restrictions,
which they see as largely unneces-
sary. Both of them are members of
“Út úr kóf inu” (“Out of the hut”), a
small but vocal group of Icelanders
skeptical of the pandemic restric-
tions.
In other news, Mom Air has
turned out to be an art project the
whole time. While this was strongly
suspected by the Grapevine and
others due to some obvious clues
left by artist Oddur Eysteinn
Fri!riksson when the “budget
airline” first launched, Oddur
emphatically denied that this was
the case, insisting that it was a
real airline with staff, airplanes,
airport slots and everything. But
then he revealed at a press confer-
ence on November 18th that the
whole thing was his final project
for the Iceland University of the
Arts. In the meantime, he received
many applications for jobs and
numerous bookings, which he
deliberately frustrated by error
messages he put in the site. So,
nice job, we guess?
Unemployment has many
Icelanders worried these days.
Jobless levels are predicted to
reach a whopping 11.3% this
December, exceeding the Febru-
ary and March 2009 peak of 9.3%,
which followed the collapse of
Iceland’s financial sector. As
always, foreigners are hit espe-
cially hard: despite comprising
about 14% of the total population,
41% of the unemployed are foreign-
ers. Poles, who comprise Iceland’s
largest ethnic minority, have been
hit especially hard, making up
20% of Iceland’s unemployed, even
though they comprise just about
5% of the total population.
Ásgeir Bragi Ægisson, or Ouse,
as he calls himself, is a 19-year-old
from the small northwest town of
Sau!árkrókur. He also happens to
be one of the top ranking Icelandic
artists on Spotify right now, with
his single Dead Eyes exceeding
36 million plays—about 4 million
more than Björk’s most played
song, "It’s Oh So Quiet." How did
he do it? Not even Ásgeir seems
sure, but he isn’t complaining.
He’s signed a deal with American
label Twelve Tones with a contract
worth tens of millions of ISK. A
country boy can survive, indeed!
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 09— 2020First
NEWS
Sigrí!ur Andersen, not wearing a mask. Photo from 2019... but still!
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