Atlantica - 01.11.2002, Page 28

An Arty Threesome
Icelandic Love
CorporationThe
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THREE FRIENDS FROM ART SCHOOL JOIN FORCES,
POOLING THEIR CREATIVE TALENTS? THE RESULT IS A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL TRIO KNOWN AS
THE ICELANDIC LOVE CORPORATION, WRITES EDWARD WEINMAN.
PHOTOS BY BRIAN SWEENEY.
26 A T L A N T I C A
The art trio known as The Icelandic
Love Corporation (ILC) has plans
to make the Icelandic summer
longer. That’s good news, but how can
art stretch the summer?
One of ILC’s recent creative proposals
is a massive triangular patch of wild,
rugged and colourful Icelandic plants
that, when finished, will bring to life a
black sand, barren region of south
Iceland, next to the Vatnsfellsvirkjun
power station.
“It will look like a giant play button on
a VCR,” says Eirún Sigurdardóttir, one
of the members of ILC. “It’s the feminine
play button on Mother Nature.”
The project, commissioned by
Iceland’s National Power Company, is in
fact called ‘Mother Nature’, an appropri-
ate label considering the green triangle
will beautify the dreariness of this deso-
late area, while forever changing with
the continued growth of the keenly posi-
tioned plants.
At first it might sound a bit odd for a
group of artists to team up with the
same power company that has plans to
build an aluminium smelter in one of
Europe’s largest wildlife areas, located
in east Iceland. Then again, ILC is not
your average group of artists.
“Everyone needs electricity,” says
Eirún. “We all want cellphones and cof-
fee makers.”
“Yeah, and you have to take each
thing on an individual basis,” adds
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