Reykjavík Grapevine - dec. 2020, Side 20

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Gilbert &
George
The Great Exhibition
06.08.2020–03.01.2021
Hafnarhús
Tryggvagata 17
+354 411 6410
artmuseum.is
Open daily
10h00–17h00
Thursdays
10h00–22h00
A Cinematic
Collection Of Souls
The Icelandic Love Corporation
on ‘Psycho!raphy’
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen
Photos: Provided by the Icelandic Love Corporation
A teenager lies on the floor feed-
ing herself popcorn with her feet.
A woman in a glamorous outfit
hopelessly sweeps a room filled
with sand. A man presents a plate
of burnt kleinur donuts to an emp-
ty kitchen. Welcome to ‘Psychogra-
phy,’ one of the Icelandic Love Cor-
poration’s latest cinematic works
, which is being featured at the
‘When The Globe Is Home’ exhibi-
tion at the Gallerie delle Prigioni
in Treviso, Italy until the end of
February.
The grand video
The 18-minute long extravaganza
is based on a participatory perfor-
mance by the group in 2016. While
the now-duo has dabbled in many
different mediums over the years,
this was their first, as they de-
scribe it, “grand video.”
“We had this opportunity to
make this performance in the
countryside at an old farm that
used to be a settlement from the
Viking Age. It was also occupied by
the British army during the war,
so there’s a huge saga, or history
connected to the land,” Eirún Sig-
ur!ardóttir explains. Jóní Jónsdót-
tir, her partner in the corporation,
agrees.
“We had a psychic or medium
with us at the start of the project.
We wanted to see what a psychic
would feel coming into this old
house that hadn’t been lived in for
years, to see if there were some
images or anything that we could
start working with,” she says.
The Hidden Woman &
The Farmer
Fortunately, the psychic saw a
plethora of images, which pro-
vided a framework for a few of the
characters featured in the film.
“For example, there is a char-
acter that we call the Hidden
Woman,” Jóni says. “The psychic
saw this Hidden Woman that was
protecting the land, but couldn’t
move away from it.”
“There was also a very dam-
aged, not-so-happy spirit that was
locked inside the house. He was
so angry and so hostile that the
psychic said we should not work
in the house and never sleep in
the house because things would
start to happen,” she continues.
“There is a character in the movie,
which is not based on this guy ex-
actly but has a bit of him. It’s this
farmer with a big shotgun. He feels
trapped inside his own feelings.”
All of these characters exist in
different dimensions of the house,
somehow locked to the land itself.
Take the aforementioned girl with
her popcorn. “She’s trying to get
out the window and run away but
she gets caught in the net and
pulled back in,” Jóni exclaims. “It’s
a little bit like our ‘Hotel Califor-
nia.’”
The national costume of
the Earth
Jóni and Eirún feature in the film
as the Madams—two stoic women
dressed in the Icelandic national
costume reimagined in cam-
ouflage. “They have been there
forever. They are almost like the
Earth themselves. We are dressed
in camouflage and in a national
costume, so maybe we’re in the na-
tional costume of the Earth,” the
two explain. “Of course it has this
violent side because [camouflage]
is very much connected to war,
as is nationality. So it’s not only
peaceful—it’s a mix.”
The aforementioned exhibition
the film is featured in seeks to
explore the relationship between
the near and the far, the collective
and the local—the “Home” and
the “Globe.” The gallery itself is
housed in an old prison. This, both
emphasize, is somewhat of an Eas-
ter egg. “Our characters are maybe
not in a prison, but somehow they
are locked in their dimension,”
Jóni concludes.
In Icelandic, the title of the
film is ‘Sálnasafn’, which loosely
translates to a collection of souls.
‘Psychography’ is their interpre-
tation of his concept in English.
The wordplay brings to mind an
intricate connection between the
psyche and geography. “Not only
the geography of the land but of
the soul,” the two conclude. “The
landscape of the soul.”
The Icelandic Love Corporation’s
‘Psychography’ will be featured at
‘When The Globe Is Home’ exhibi-
tion at the Gallerie delle Prigioni
in Italy until the end of February.
You can explore the exhibition vir-
tually on their website.