Atlantica - 01.04.2006, Qupperneq 68

66 AT L A N T I CA
a
Revolving
Don’t expect to see the usual glut of flaw-
less landscape photographs, portraits of
rosy-cheeked children and otherwise fairytale
pictures of Iceland when you check out Dutch
photographer Rob Hornstra’s “Roots of the
Rúntur,” now on display at Reykjavík’s National
Gallery of Photography. His photographs, which
have also been published in a book of the same
title, open a sobering window into the daily lives
of both young and old Icelanders and migrant
workers, mostly Polish, living and working in
small fishing villages sprinkled around Iceland’s
rugged coast.
The exhibit also introduces its uninitiated
audience to the Icelandic phenomenon of the
rúntur – a slow, circuitous route taken by car.
Imagine American Graffiti on a much – much
– smaller scale. It’s funny, it’s strange and it’s
also symbolic of the boredom and monotony
common among youth in the far-flung corners
of the country. Gone are the days of young
Icelanders filleting cod, haddock or salmon
for packaging and shipment to faraway lands.
Instead they invest their time and money jazzing
up cars, boozing and hanging out at the nearest
petrol station.
“I was totally out of my mind when I saw
it for the first time in the far east of Iceland,”
Hornstra told me from his home in Utrecht, the
Netherlands. “No Icelander will tell you about
the rúntur because they just think it’s normal.”
In 2005, Hornstra, 30, was one of six pho-
tographers commissioned by the International
Photography Research Network at the University
of Sunderland (UK) to engage in a themed proj-
ect called “Work.” The idea was to look at work
within the fast-developing European context.
After countless hours of research and interviews
last summer with Icelandic students and expats
living in the Netherlands, he set off for his first
of two trips to Iceland with the idea that he
would document immigrants in the fishing
villages. After hearing about the rúntur on his
second journey, he managed to befriend a young
art student with a car, and off he went. SB
The National Gallery of Photography at the National
Museum of Iceland (until June 11). Sudurgata 41,
101 Reykjavík, +354 530 2200.
ICELANDa
064-94ICELANDAtl306.indd 66 23.4.2006 23:22:27