Iceland review - 2013, Qupperneq 48

46 ICELAND REVIEW
As in other parts of the country, Seyðis-
fjörður sees the bulk of its visitors during
the summer months when it’s transformed
into a bustling tourist destination. Tourism
is a recent trend, though. As other coastal
towns in Iceland, the town’s history is built
on the fishing industry. Norwegian herring
fishermen settled Seyðisfjörður in the mid-
19th century and contributed to it earning
an official town status in 1895. Around the
same time, the Danes began trading in the
fjord. The Norwegians built the colorful
wooden buildings which remain here today,
as well as a number of herring fishing facili-
ties. So plentiful and valuable were the fish,
that they were dubbed the ‘silver of the sea.’
Later, during World War II, Seyðisfjörður
became an important military base.
Today it’s the fjord’s beauty that draws
people here in large numbers. The scenic
fjord also caught the eye of actor/direc-
tor Ben Stiller who filmed scenes for his
remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty here
last summer. The arrival of the high-profile
celebrity—along with a crew of 200—
didn’t faze the community, though. Nor did
requests for Seyðisfjörður to appear in the
film as a ghost town; Stiller received permis-
sion to temporarily ban traffic to help create
the illusion.
In fact, Ríkey says it was life as normal
in Seyðisfjörður. “People are used to hav-
ing something happening here and the
town has served as a film location before so
people were very calm, it was just part of
daily life here... but the kids were of course
very excited, they queued to get their photo
taken, and as a business we were very busy,”
she explains.
In winter Stiller would have had the per-
fect setting. The cold, dark days keep people
indoors most of the time. In mid-November,
the sun disappears behind the mountains and
only reappears in mid-February when it is
greeted with sólarkaffi, a gathering of friends
and family over coffee and pancakes. From
then on, the days get longer until mid-sum-
mer. In the meantime, the increasingly long
winter nights are embraced with the annual
cultural festival Dagar Myrkurs (‘Days of
Darkness’) held during the first two weeks
of November.
inTo THe DarK
When we arrive, the community is busy pre-
paring for the grand finale: the torch parade
and ‘northern lights’ disco party. On Friday
night, the lights in town are turned off while
the procession winds its way around town.
On Saturday, the evening begins with sepa-
rate men’s and women’s events; the women
strip down for nude bathing at the swim-
ming pool. Later, everyone puts on their
best dancing shoes and heads to Hotel Aldan,
transformed into a mini disco hall for the
evening. Outside the weeklong festival, the
long nights are spent indoors, chatting with
neighbors over coffee or dinner.
Many of those who move to Seyðisfjörður
are artists, attracted by the fjord’s setting and
the unique micro-community. One such
person is the renowned Swiss artist Dieter
Roth (1930-1998) who spent his later years
here. Others come via Skaftfell Center
for visual Art’s artist-in-residence program,
which receives applications from Australia
to Finland for stays of between one and six
months. The program, which provides artists
with a space to explore a new angle to their
work, has fostered a growing community of
artists in East Iceland.
One of those who stayed on is Litten
Nyström from Denmark. She came to
Seyðisfjörður two years ago for a one-
month residency but immediately found
herself looking for ways to extend her stay.
“Many people come to Seyðisfjörður for
the artist-in-residence program. I would say
that between 85 and 90 percent think about
staying and buying a house here,” Nyström,
who now works as the residence and project
manager at Skaftfell, explains. Nyström says
it’s the mix of the town’s big city, cosmo-
politan feel, the artistic connections and the
stunning scenery that led her to buy a house
and make Seyðisfjörður home. “Prices have
gone up, but it’s still cheap,” she comments.
And, as we later find out, several houses in
town are for sale.
Like most people in Seyðisfjörður, she’s
also involved in other projects. She
works at Hotel Aldan and helped estab-
lish RoShamBo, a collaboration of three
artists residing in Seyðisfjörður, last June.
Þórunn Eymundardóttir, Hanna Christel
CULTURE
ríkey with her son álfur.
“What makes Seyðisfjörður so special is that there are so
many people here now with such positive energy, people who
are willing to invest in being here.” Konrad Korabiewski