Reykjavík Grapevine - Jun 2023, Blaðsíða 16

The Reykjavík Grapevine 6 / 23 16Culture
06.05.–08.07.
Fimmtíu plöntur fyrir frið
Fifty Plants for Peace
Katrín
Elvarsdóttir
WORDS Jóhannes Bjarkason
IMAGES Patrik Ontkovic
Big cars, bright lights. The apple
that never sleeps. Taste of Iceland
– a cultural festival produced by
the marketing platform Inspired by
Iceland – brought artists, poets and
musicians from the Mengi collective
and Tunglið publishing house to New
York May 12 and 13, for a celebration
of both organisations’ 10th anni-
versaries. Dubbed The Singing Fish
Circus, the 12-man strong troupe
of artists ventured from Reykjavík
to New York. What followed was a
celebration of experimental music,
ephemeral literature and untethered
creative expression.
BURNING BOOKS
On a sticky New York afternoon,
author and Moon Publishing organ-
iser Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson sits on
the deck of the artists’ Airbnb. “This
is an idea that sort of sprung up. I
had been chatting with the folks at
Mengi about doing something like
this for a while,” Ragnar says.

Moon Publishing is not your run-of-
the-mill publishing company; authors
and poets commence their work at
the start of a lunar cycle and publish
at the end of it. Copies are printed
in limited numbers, for this night’s
event there were 69. Those who don’t
sell are discarded – burnt even. “The
idea is not to aggravate. It’s a poetic
act, not a political one,” says Ragnar.
Mengi is a firmly rooted art space in
Reykjavík, operating on the juncture
of visual art, music and performance
art. A trusty hub of all things experi-
mental, performances by musicians
associated with the venue is often
characterised by improvisational
methods.

Luring would-be visitors with the
promise of a night of wonder and
artistic exploration, Mengi kicked
off the Singing Fish Circus on Fri-
day night. An empty Williamsburg
storefront had been transformed
Culture Feature The Singing Fish
Circus Takes New York
Icelandic exceptionalism in the big apple
Forlagið bookstore | Fiskislóð 39 | www.forlagid.is
ICELAND’S LARGEST BOOKSTORE
THIS IS
ICELAND
Memories from
Iceland that fit
into your pocket!
It’s an art space, everything’s
allowed