Iceland review - 2014, Qupperneq 67

ICELAND REVIEW 65
másdóttir and Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir. i8 gallery has a roster
of artists, including Ragnar Kjartansson, Ívar Valgarðsson and
Peter Liversidge.
if you live in downtown Reykjavík, you will find hidden
gems. on Bergstaðastræti, Pétur arason recently opened a
space showing part of his extensive contemporary art collection.
currently showing dieter Roth, his collection includes pieces
by on Kawara, donald Judd and carl andre, as well as icelandic
artists. Pétur, by the way, who also has a space in Berlin where he
shows contemporary icelandic art, hosted many of the brightest
stars in the contemporary art world when they came to iceland
in the late 70s and 80s.
three other contemporary art spaces have sprung up in the
last few months. Hverfisgallery on Hverfisgata is the most note-
able, but týs-gallery on týsgata and Harbinger on Freyjugata
exude the sort of energy and excitement that only under-funded,
artist-run spaces do.
settling down
With the extremes in light and darkness, one’s mood can swing
wildly in this country—on a bad day i might say Reykjavík is like
Hastings, only much further away. in a cheerier mood, i might
use another comparison. in many ways Reykjavík has become a
livable, cosmopolitan city, albeit one with the population den-
sity of Houston, texas. But why focus on Reykavík city center?
Surely there are other places to live.
People born abroad constitute around 8 percent of iceland’s
population. one would expect this ratio to be highest in
Reykjavík, but it isn’t. Foreign-born residents make up between
15 and 17 percent of the population of some of the fishing vil-
lages in the West Fjords, such as tálknafjörður and Bolungarvík.
there, you will find people from different countries, boosting
local cultural life. Þingeyri, a small village in the West Fjords,
used to be a fairly sleepy place until a young Belgian, Wouter
PHOTOS By Páll StefánSSon.