Iceland review - 2007, Side 18

24 ICELAND REVIEW
interview
Sara Blask: How do you decide what exactly to preserve of Iceland’s
heritage?
Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir: I see Icelandic history in the larger
context, as part of global history. We have 100,000 objects, 2.5 million
photographs from both Icelandic and foreign photographers, and 44
houses preserved. Only two percent of our permanent collection is on
display at the museum.
SB: The museum recently commissioned American photographer
Mary Ellen Mark to document the lives of handicapped children in two
schools, which culminated in a book and an exhibition both dubbed
Extraordinary Children. How does documentary photography of modern
Icelandic culture simultaneously contribute to its preservation?
MH: It’s just one example of how a museum can be a driving force
and plant the seeds for discussion in a modern society. We’re hoping
this will open the minds of the people and make them realize that this
needs to be discussed and improved. Nobody wants these children to
be isolated.
SB: How do you deem what merits preservation when the country is
moving forward so quickly?
MH: It is important to rethink the role of the museum in modern
society. It shouldn’t be just a dusty mirror of the past. The museum
needs to somehow build a bridge to the modern world.
SB: Among the drinking horns and medieval shoes made of fish skin,
what is the single most valuable – or perhaps, invaluable – object that
has been preserved?
MH: I’d have to mention the small bronze statue of Thor, which
symbolizes the bridge between Paganism and Christianity. Thor
symbolizes our roots. He’s our Mona Lisa.
SB: What about the massive f lood of immigrants upon Iceland’s
shores. Do you preserve their artifacts also?
MH: Yes, it is all part of our modern society, but that is nothing really
new. We’ve had interaction with other countries since the Settlement
Period. But, of course, what belongs to the Poles and others moving
to Iceland is just as important as the things from a family living here
for generations. I think people here are sometimes a little disrespectful
towards foreigners. In a way it’s a minority complex. When people
visit Central or Eastern Europe, for example, you see all these great
buildings and heritage and some think of this as much more valuable
than what we have in Iceland. There is so much heritage in all of these
countries and ours is just as important as theirs, we just don’t realize it.
SB: What about the history behind the Sagas?
MH: They’re very important for our cultural identity like so many
other things and I feel like some Icelanders have forgotten a little bit
about their roots.
SB: How so?
MH: Partly because sometimes we are running too fast. We have to
remember who we are and be inspired by that. We can, however, sense
a rapid increase in the interest in our heritage. Sigur Rós’s music, for
example, is inspired by old traditional folksongs.
SB: What are some of the most underestimated relics of Icelandic heritage?
MH: People in modern Iceland don’t always realize how valuable our
turf houses are. They think that they somehow ref lect we were poor
and lived in small houses, but they are unique to our global history.
They are just as important as the Pyramids in Egypt.
SB: Glass seems to be the new corrugated aluminum these days. You’ve
been especially critical of some of the recent construction going on in
the city center, especially the ultra contemporary apartment buildings
by the sea. Too nouveau riche?
MH: People say that these old houses are not worth preserving. It’s a
dangerous way of thinking. If we lose our city center and change it
into a [shopping mall like] Smáralind or Kringlan, we risk losing our
identity and what makes us special. We have been building too much,
too fast. And then there are the new suburbs. It’s like they have been
building these houses on an assembly line. They lack quality and even
humanity.
SB: Are there any items that specifically characterize Iceland’s 20th
century history?
MH: Many people have said that rubber boots changed lives.
SB: Um… what about Björk?
MH: (Laughs.) She’s also upstairs. We have her first record.
SB: Graffiti seems to have crept up in almost every crack and crevice
in downtown Reykjavík. Some argue it’s art, others vandalism. Is
graffiti worth preserving?
MH: It’s part of modern culture and I think it’s worth observing but
it needs to be controlled.
SB: Is it getting out of hand?
MH: Sometimes. I’m the mother of teenage girls and I’ve been listening
to their argument. I can understand their point of view.
SB: What about the dried wads of chewing gum stuck to the sidewalks
downtown. Does the National Museum have a gum patrol responsible
for collecting Extra wrappers?
MH: Yeah, I hate that. Even just outside this museum, people spit their
gum out before they enter or throw their cigarettes on the pavement.
It is so self ish.
SB: How many national conservators have come before you?
MH: I’m the fourth. The first national conservator was hired in 1907
and the three before me were all here for more than 30 years. I’m of
course completely different from them and I live in different times.
They had more time to write books and didn’t spend as much time
answering emails as I do.

As general director of the National Museum of Iceland, Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir oversees the preservation of the country’s most
essential providence lost and found. The mother of four speaks with Sara Blask about the nation’s Mona Lisa, the selfishness
of gum-chewing and why museums shouldn’t be so crusty anymore.
Twenty-First Century Antiquarian
Photo by Páll StefánSSon