AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.03.1998, Síða 64

E N G L I
S H
S U
M M A R Y
This issue of AVS focusses on the year
2000, when Reykjavík has been chosen
as one of the European Cultural Cities.
PAGE 11 REYKJAVÍK - EURO-
PEAN CULTURAL CITY 2000
Mayor of Reykjavík Ingibjörg Sólrún
Gísladóttir writes about the way in
which the year 2000 will be marked by
the nine European Cultural Cities:
Avignon, Bergen, Bologna, Prague,
Helsinki, Brussels, Santiago de
Compostela, Cracow and Reykjavík.
The year 2000 has a special significance
for Icelanders, as the millennium of the
adoption of christianity and of the dis-
covery of America by Leif the Lucky.
The year will also see the completion of
a new museum centre in Reykjavík, and
an art centre, as well as new sewage sys-
tem which will keep Reykjavík's coasts
clean - and that is culture too.
PAGE 14 REYKJAVÍK 2000
An interview with Þórunn Sigurða-
rdóttir, director of the Reykjavík cultur-
al city project for the year 2000. She
explains that the cultural cities project
aims to create better mutual understand-
ing and knowledge among European
nations. Hitherto only one city has been
nominated European Cultural City each
year, but nine have been chosen for the
millennial year. She says that the 2000
project will be involved in a wide vari-
ety of cultural projects during the year,
which will aim to appeal to as wide a
public as possible. She stresses the
importance of building a concert hall by
2000 (this has been planned and dis-
cussed for many years). The events of
the year will be financed partly by the
city of Reykjavík and the state, partly
from abroad. She says that it is impor-
tant to rnake the year 2000 exciting and
memorable, with an "aura."
PAGE 18 THE UNION OF ICE-
LANDIC ARTISTS AND THE
REYKJAVÍK CULTURAL CITY
2000
The Union of Icelandic Artists has sev-
eral times expressed its concem over
lack of clear policy on art in Iceland,
and expressed doubts over the role of
Reykjavík as a European Cultural City.
The artists have, however, agreed to
take part in the project and its prepara-
tion. They stress the importance of long-
term projects, such as the long-
promised foundation of a university of
arts and the building of a concert hall, in
addition to organised efforts to promote
Icelandic arts. Promotional bodies exist
for music and visual arts, but literature
and film still lack this. A special con-
sulting committee has been appointed in
connection with the 2000 project, on
which the Union of Icelandic Artists has
four representatives.
PAGE 22 REYKJAVÍK CULTURAL
CITY 2000 - Kjarvalsstaðir architec-
tural department
Architect Pétur H. Armannsson writes
about the Reykjavík Municipal Art
Museum's department of architecture,
which was founded in 1993. The depart-
ment is building up a collection of archi-
tects' original drawings, while its other
function is to promulgate information
on architecture via publications, exhibi-
tions and lectures. The department will
move into better facilities in 2000, when
the municipal art museum moves to new
premises. He suggests that it would be
fitting to mark the year 2000 with
Iceland's first international architectural
event.
PAGE 24 WHAT IS THE SITUA-
TION?
Artist Hannes Lárusson makes his own
ironical contribution to discussions of
the cultural city in the year 2000, in
which he appears to express the view
that culture and art are not taken seri-
ously in Iceland, although Icelanders all
constantly congratulating themselves
on the high level of culture (paradoxi-
cal, hmm?). He criticises the lack of
clear policy and action in the field of the
arts, which he characterises as "por-
ridge."
PAGE 28 REYKJAVÍK CULTURAL
CITY 2000 - SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT IN ARCHITEC-
TURE
Designer Einar Þorsteinn Asgeirsson
discusses the need for architects to work
within a context of sustainability. The
year 2000 offers an opportunity to edu-
cate people in the ideas and virtues of
sustainability, e.g. by building a show
house based on this ideology and tech-
nology.
PAGE 30 A CONCERT HALL IN
ICELAND FROM A MUSICIAN'S
VIEWPOINT
Björn Th. Amason, bassoonist and chair
of the Icelandic Musicians' Union,
writes about plans for a concert hall,
which date back to 1983. Various sites
in Reykjavík have been suggested for
the concert hall: Öskjuhlíð, adjacent to
the Pearl (on top of the city's hot-water
storage tanks), the Laugardalur park,
adjacent to Hotel Saga, and the old cen-
tre of town. Bjöm feels that Öskjuhlíð
has potential (provided that the concert
hall is not built underground, as has
been suggested), as does Laugardalur
(central location, hotels, pleasant envi-
ronment), but he feels that the concert
hall does not belong next to Hotel Saga,
where it would tend to be overwhelmed
by the conference business. He also
approves the old centre, but he suggests
that there may be other options that have
not yet been examined. He discusses the
need for a spacious concert hall with
good facilities for guests (cloakrooms,
small shops, refreshments) and also for
the musicians and others who work
there. Finally, he suggests that with the
year 2000 approaching it is time for the
concert hall to be built at last.
PAGE 33 WHAT KIND OF CUL-
TURAL CITY DO WE WANT?
Ragnar Gestsson and Hildur Jónsdóttir
consider how Reykjavík will be a cul-
tural city in 2000. They point out the
danger of arranging a splendid "party'
in the millennial year, and forgetting the
62