Reykjavík Grapevine - jun. 2023, Side 15

15 Culture
The
Grapevine’s
Top Picks
BJÖRK & FRIENDS AN-
TI-WHALING PROTEST
June 3
Old Harbour at 14:00 / Smek-
kleysa Records at 15:00
Free
In 2022, 148 fin whales were hunt-
ed and tortured to death by the
whaling company Hvalur Hf. Among
them, 11 were pregnant and one was
lactating, resulting in the death of
at least as many calves. The outcry
against commercial whaling by this
sole company has only been getting
louder and louder in recent years,
and our beloved artist and defender
of nature Björk is at front and centre
of this fight. Join her in protest of the
cruelty against our gentle precious
ocean friends, with a demonstration
in the harbour and performances up
at Smekkleysa Records. RX
ICELANDIC TATTOO CON-
VENTION 2023
June 2-4
Gamla Bíó
3.500 ISK full pass / 1.500 ISK
day pass
Start shaving your body and say
goodbye to the pool for the next
month, cause it’s time to ink up,
baby! Going strong since 2006, the
Icelandic Tattoo Convention is back
for another buzzing year full of sick
designs, black ink, bloody paper
towels and yelps of pain. The festi-
val hosts guest artists from all over
the world, some of whom have built
quite a reputation and loyal follow-
ing, so get there early if you want
to book a time with someone. You,
too, can be one of the lucky ones
that get to act tough while getting
stabbed for the sake of art. RX
HAFNARFJÖRÐUR VIKING
FESTIVAL
June 14-18
Viðistaðatún Park
Free
Learn to be a Viking and spend
five whole days eating, dancing,
playing and crafting like a Norse
warrior while shopping for leather
wares, furs, jewelry and horns – not
on the helmets though, that would
be silly. The adrenaline-filled high-
light of it all: the Viking reenactment
fights! The event takes place at the
Víðistaðatún park in Hafnarfjörður
and you’re free to leisurely stroll
around the open market from 13-
19. And the best part – apart from
the outfits, weapons and beards of
course – the entrance is free! CM
WORDS Rex Beckett
IMAGE Art Bicnick
Jutting out from the facade on
one of the busiest parts of Laugave-
gur, it’s hard to miss Gallery Port.
The front and side walls are huge
floor-to-ceiling windows through
which whatever’s happening inside
will catch your eye. Whether it’s
irreverent paintings, curious instal-
lations, or hyperactive happenings,
the gallery’s experimental and excit-
ing exhibitions draw you in. They are
now celebrating their seventh anni-
versary with a massive group exhi-
bition of their colleagues, the artists
who have been with them over the
years, both dear and distant.
STARTING ON BORROWED
TIME
Experimentation has always been
the name of the game for Gallery
Port. It all started across the street,
in a ramshackle space behind the
old Macland store on Laugavegur
back in 2016. Old friends and artists
Skarphéðinn Bergþórusson and Árni
Már Erlingsson were working on an
exhibition together, which has never
actually seen the light of day. “I
guess it will be the final exhibition of
Port or something,” says Árni.
“Meanwhile, we got a call from a
friend of ours who owned the com-
puter store and he offered us the
other small space,” Árni recounts.
“He said we could have it for three to
five months and then he was going
to tear it down. So we just went kind
of insane because we thought we
only had this short amount of time.”
In this short time, they threw roughly
twenty events ranging from exhibi-
tions to concerts and parties, show-
casing young emerging artists of all
types. Without any defined curatorial
concept, they began by providing
emerging artists space and creat-
ing excitement around themselves
and the art scene. But nothing felt
certain.
“We were always on borrowed time,”
says Skarphéðinn. “We only had
three to five months, and then we
had six months and then maybe one
more year, but maybe not. It was
always about to be torn down, and
because of that, we didn’t fix it up. It
was cold and always leaking when it
rained, and we stuck it out anyway.”
FRIENDS WITH (BUSINESS)
BENEFITS
Their tenacity paid off for nearly six
years in that space. In November
of 2021, they moved just across the
street into their current – hopefully
permanent – location, giving them
a sense of establishment that they
previously lacked.
“It’s warmer, it’s bigger, it’s bright-
er, it’s probably better health wise,”
Skarphéðinn muses of their current
home, the lease on which they have
been guaranteed at least through
2024.
As the gallery has grown, gained
solid ground and a strong reputa-
tion for the quality and range of its
exhibitions, Árni and Skarphéðinn
have faced newer challenges in their
shifting roles.
“First and foremost, we are artists
and running this place like this for
seven years, it needs some busi-
ness mentality as well, and that’s not
that’s not what we are best at,” Árni
admits. But thanks to help from their
friends with MBAs, they have been
resourceful in keeping their ambi-
tious space going strong.
CELEBRATION TIME
Port is now celebrating seven years
of challenges, changes and shifts
with a massive month-long exhibi-
tion called Kollegar (‘colleagues’),
which opens June 3. The show will
display works from nearly 40 art-
ists, including established names
like Loji Höskuldsson, Korkimon,
Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Auður
Ómarsdóttir and their erstwhile
co-owner Þorvaldur Jónsson, as
well as fresher names in Icelandic
art like Natka Klimowicz, Julie Sjöfn
Gasiglia, Joe Keys and Fía Yang.
They will also show the work of the
beloved late Svavar Pétur Eysteins-
son, aka Prins Póló.
“It’s always just more and more fun
for us,” says Árni, of the gallery’s
growth. “I’m not sure how to say
this without offending anybody, but
when you start off, you don’t like
every exhibition. Of course today, we
still maybe don’t like everything, but
we’re always working with more solid
artists that we like to work with.”
It’s exciting to imagine how Gallery
Port will evolve over the next seven
years. Maybe a return to their roots
– that old location still hasn’t been
torn down.
I’m not sure how to say this
without offending anybody, but
when you start off, you don’t
like every exhibition. Of course
today, we still maybe don’t like
everything, but we’re always
working with more solid artists
that we like to work with.
Happening Port-Side Celebration
Gallery Port turns seven