New
exhibition in the art exhibition series in the Culture Shop
3 December 2007
 A
new art exhibition has been mounted in the Culture Shop, the souvenir
shop at the Culture House. The artist Erla Þórarinsdóttir
displays a piece she entitles Common property; public spaces.
The piece consists of six paintings of the floor plan of six public
buildings in Reykjavík that serve different functions. Each
is painted in the scale 1:50. These spaces are common to us; they
are points of reference regarding other spaces, our behaviour, sense
of value and self image.
The exhibition is dedicated to the artist Birgir Andrésson
who was to be included in the art exhibition series but recently
passed away.
Erla Þórarinsdóttir (b. 1955) is an accomplished
artist who has displayed her work in numerous solo- and joint exhibitions
in Iceland and around the world. She has received international
prices for her art.
The art exhibition series is organized by artist Helga Egilsdóttir
who also works at the Culture House reception.
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The
opening of Journey’s End – on Jónas
Hallgrímsson
15 November 2007
 This
year the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Icelandic poet and
natural scientist Jónas Hallgrímsson is celebrated
in many ways throughout the country. The Culture House participates
in the celebration by hosting an exhibition on Hallgrímsson’s
life and work.
The exhibition was opened by former president of the Icelandic parliament
Halldór Blöndal, who gave an address. A musical ensemble
performed three songs by composer Atli Heimir Sveinsson to lyrics
by Hallgrímsson and an actress read two of his poems. Furthermore,
the president of the Icelandic Literary Society Sigurður Líndal
presented copies of the Society’s publication of essays on
Hallgrímsson to Minister of Education, Science and Culture
Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir and chairman
of the committee of the 200th anniversary Halldór Blöndal.
The exhibition was well received by guests at the opening. In addition
to a good overview of Hallgrímsson’s life and career
as a natural scientist and poet, the exhibition features various
rare exhibits, some of which have never before been displayed. These
are various manuscripts, original drawings, a collection of geological
specimens and other items from museums in Iceland and Denmark.
The exhibition is open every day between 11 am and 5 pm and will
be on view until June 2008.
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Händel
in Italy – chamber music concert
14 November 2007
 On
14 November world renowned soprano singer Susanne Rydén and
NoA chamber orchestra performed worldly cantatas by Handel and opera
arias by Alessandro Scarlatti, among other works, in concert here
at the Culture House. Susanne Rydén is among the world’s
most accomplished interpreters of baroque and classical music.
The concert is one of a series of concerts held by NoA at the Culture
House. The members of the group have all specialised in performing
on original baroque instruments. The group has performed in Iceland,
Denmark and Holland and been well received.
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From
Beyond the Oceans - the opening ceremony
31 October 2007
 On
Wednesday 31 October the Culture House held a ceremony on the occasion
of the opening of a new thematic exhibition in the Library Room,
the old reading room of the National Library. The exhibition is
named From Beyond the Oceans – translations and original
writings by Helgi Hálfdanarson. It features Hálfdanarson’s
translations of classical literature; plays, stories and poems,
and highlights his original writings in which he interprets medieval
texts, contemplates ways to nurture the Icelandic language and expresses
his opinions on other important issues. The exhibition draws forth
the many forms his translations have taken on the stage and in the
media through the efforts of numerous different artists.
The programme for the opening ceremony was extensive. Director of
the Culture House Guðríður Sigurðardóttir
spoke of Hálfdanarson’s career, Dr. Gauti Kristmannsson
gave an address which he entitled Helgi Hálfdanarson
– a nation’s translator and the artists Arnbjörg
Hlíf Valsdóttir, Ívar Örn Sverrisson,
Bergþór Pálsson and Kristinn H. Árnason
performed songs and scenes from Hálfdanarson’s works.
Dr. Sveinn Einarsson directed the programme.
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Pink
October
October 2007
 October
is international breast cancer awareness month. It has been held
here in Iceland since 2000. A pink ribbon is the symbol of support
for the many women who have been affected by breast cancer globally.
For the past eight years various buildings around the world have
been lit pink during October. Here in Iceland the number of buildings
lit each year has been growing and this year the Culture House is
lit pink for the first time. Furthermore, all staff members of the
Culture House bear pink ribbons in October.
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The
Icelandic National League – a cultural programme
3 October 2007
 The
annual cultural programme of the Icelandic National League was held
in the Culture House in conjunction with the league's annual meeting.
Anyone sharing the INL’s interest in strengthening the unity
and cooperation between Icelanders at home and abroad, as well as
contacts with people of Icelandic decent outside of Iceland, was
welcome to attend the programme. At the annual meeting director
Guðríður Sigurðardóttir of the Culture
House was elected to the board of INL. Almar Grímsson continues
as chairman of the board and he opened the programme and introduced
the speakers.
Garry Oddleifson president of the INL of North America gave a talk
on the league’s activities. Bjarki Sveinbjörnsson gave
an informative lecture on composers of Icelandic descent in North
America and following his talk singer Erna Kirstín Blöndal
and guitarist Örn Arnarson performed a few songs. The programme
continued with Ásta Sól Kristjánsdóttir,
Ragnheiður Diljá Gunnarsdóttir and Hrafnhildur
Sigmarsdóttir introducing the Snorri Programme. David Gislason
gave a speech in honour of Jónas Hallgrímsson, whose
200th birth anniversary is commemorated this year. Neil Bardal gave
the concluding address.
The Prime Minister hosted a reception for the attendees and the
Culture House invited guests to view the current exhibitions.
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The
chamber concert series has begun
24 September 2007
Members of the Iceland
Symphony Orchestra launched the concert series The Crystal
in the Culture House’s Library Room on Saturday 22 September.
The first concert in the series was named the Brass Bottom.
The orchestra’s trombone and tuba players, accompanied by
a percussionist, played music both composed for such an unusual
and exciting ensemble, and popular music arranged for this deep
end of the brass section.
Among the works on the repertoire were a toccata and fugue by Bach,
a chapter from Bruckner’s seventh symphony, Yesterday by Lennon
and McCartney and the Queen hit Bohemian Rhapsody.
The chamber concert series had a good start and the next concert
will be held on 13 October. It is simply called The Height of
Chamber Music and the programme consists of Franz Peter Schubert’s
octet in F-dur opus 166.
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Art
on the walls of the Culture Shop
13 September 2007
 This
summer an art exhibition was mounted in the shop in the Culture
House. It is the first in series of art exhibitions planned, making
the visit to the shop all the more interesting. The exhibition is
named Manifesto – Momento: Benda and is on view until
mid November. It consists of mandalas worked on jointly by artists
Bjarni H. Þórarinsson and Guðmundur Oddur.
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Culture
Night: Folk song concert and an open house
18 August 2007
 Poet
and musician Aðalsteinn Ásberg Sigurðsson held his
annual Culture Night Folk song concert in the Library Room along
with singer Guðrún Gunnarsdóttir and the Swedish
trio Draupnir (pictured). The concert was repeated three
times during the afternoon and evening. All exhibitions were open
free of charge all day and until 11 pm.
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Music-rain
inside the Culture House
29 June 2007
 The
duo para-Dís performed in concert at the Culture House during
lunch hour on Friday 29 June. The programme consisted of light and
summery French music to suit anyone’s taste. The concert was
free and truly enjoyed by the guests that attended.
The members of the duo para-Dís are Hafdís Vigfúsdóttir
flute player and Kristján Karl Bragason pianist. The concert
at the Culture House is one in a series of concerts they give in
various locations and settings throughout Reykjavík this
summer. The concert series is named Music-rain in Reykjavík
and is sponsored by Hitt húsið, a culture and information
centre for young people between the ages of 16 and 25.
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Carmina
chamber quire sang 17th century songs
5 June 2007
 Carmina
chamber quire held a concert in the Library Room on Tuesday evening
5 June. The quire sang songs from the Icelandic manuscript Melódía
that contains over 220 old songs of various sorts and was written
around 1660. The songs represent a cross section of the most popular
songs in Iceland in the 17th century.
The quire members are all established singers and the founder and
director, Árni Heimir Ingólfsson, is a musicologist.
He played the harpsichord in a few of the songs.
Carmina is headed to Stockholm where the group will perform at Stockholm
Early Music Festival. Carmina’s concert will be held in the
Finish church in Stockholm on 8 June and will be recorded by the
Swedish radio.
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Surtsey
– Genesis – the opening ceremony
6 May 2007
 The
exhibition Surtsey – Genesis, mounted in the Culture
House by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, was opened
with due ceremony on Sunday, 6 May. Guðríður Sigurðardóttir
director of the Culture House and Jón Gunnar Ottóson
director general of the Icelandic Institute of Natural History addressed
the gathering as did the Minister for the Environment Jónína
Bjartmarz who declared the exhibition opened. Music was performed
by the Jóel Pálsson Trio.
The exhibition Surtsey – Genesis traces the emergence
and evolution of the island Surtsey until the present day and predicts
its geographical and ecological development over the next 120 years.
The latest multimedia techniques are applied in the exhibition to
convey the invaluable findings of scientific research in Surtsey.
It is designed to meet the interests of curious children as well
as those of scientists and visitors are expected to sense the force
of the eruption as they absorb information about its nature and
resulting creation.
On 5 June 2007 forty years will have passed since the Surtsey eruption
came to a close. It reached the surface of the ocean on 14 November
1963. Icelandic authorities have nominated Surtsey to UNESCO’s
World Heritage List as a universally unique natural phenomenon.
The decision regarding Surtsey’s inclusion on the World Heritage
List is expected in summer 2008. The
Nomination Report is accessible here>>.
Numerous scientists, designers, soft-ware specialists and technicians
have contributed to the preparation of the exhibition. It is furthermore
enhanced by unique photographs and films taken of the eruption and
of the island itself from the beginning and up to the present day.
The Icelandic Institute of Natural History has prepared the exhibition.
Many institutions and companies, in addition to the Ministries for
the Environment and of Education, Science and Culture, have sponsored
the exhibition.
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The
quire Vox feminae in two concerts
21 and 22 March 2007
 The
Vox Feminae quire performed Icelandic songs and folksongs in two
concerts in the Culture House on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 March.
The concerts were quite unusual as these old precious songs were
sung in a theatrical presentation. In this song happening the audience
followed the members of the quire through the loft and hallway,
where the unique acoustics of the building sound to the utmost.
At the latter concert the Swedish dancer Ivonne Kral performed her
own dance work, along with some members of the quire and its teenage
counterpart, to music largely composed by her spouse. The Swedish
ambassador in Iceland, her Excellency Madeleine Ströje-Wilkens,
attended the performance.
The quire managed to captivate the audience and create a festive
and intimate atmosphere in these concerts dedicated to Icelandic
women of the past.
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The
exhibition Icelandic Fashion and Design – inspired by
nature was opened in Berlin
14 March 2007
 On
14 March the Icelandic ambassador in Germany, his Excellency Ólafur
Davíðsson, declared the exhibition Icelandic Fashion
and Design – inspired by nature opened at Felleshus,
the joint complex of the five Nordic countries in Berlin. The exhibition
features, among other items, fashion design by some Icelandic designers
that also had their work on view in the recent exhibition Icelandic
Fashion here at the Culture House. The German curator Matthias
Wagner K curates both exhibitions, emphasising the way Icelandic
nature inspires the designs.
The director of the Culture House, Guðríður Sigurðardóttir,
addressed the gathering and mentioned in particular how the exhibition
Icelandic Fashion marked a turning-point for exhibitions
held at the Culture House with its innovative and artistic approach
to contemporary Icelandic culture, as had not been seen in the Culture
House, and probably never before in Iceland, in the form seen in
these exhibitions.
It is worth mentioning that Matthias Wagner K also managed the art
festival Islandbilder, held by Icelandic authorities in
Cologne in November 2005 featuring among many other artists the
same Icelandic fashion designers. One may therefore say that this
series of exhibitions bridges the cities Cologne, Reykjavík
and Berlin, providing a channel for the creative prowess of Icelandic
designers through official venues in Iceland and abroad.
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Exhibitions
about Jónas Hallgrímsson
16 March 2007
 On
Wednesday 21 March the first of three exhibitions about the poet
and natural scientist Jónas Hallgrímsson will be opened.
The year 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of Hallgrímsson’s
birth, but he was born in Hraun in Öxnadalur,
North Iceland, on 16 November 1807.
The first exhibition will be at the Municipal Library of Akureyri.
The second exhibition, emphasizing Icelandic nature, will be opened
on 3 August and will be hosted by the North Atlantic House in Copenhagen.
The third and last exhibition will be opened here at the Culture
House in October.
Exhibition designer is Björn G. Björnsson for the company
List og Saga that manages the design, production and mounting
of the exhibitions on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science
and Culture.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has an informative website about
Jónas Hallgrímsson: http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/Jonas/
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The
Nordic Affect chamber orchestra’s concert in the
Culture House
3 March 2007
 Saturday
3 March the chamber orchestra Nordic Affect held the first
of a series of concerts it will hold here in the Culture House.
The concert was entitled Catgut and Wood. The programme
consisted of instrumental baroque music, ranging from progressive
string pieces by Marini and Merula to one of the most famous flute
pieces in music history; the h-moll suite by J. S. Bach. Chamber
music has its loyal admirers here in Iceland and the concert was
well attended and the performance was both lively and assiduous.
It is worth mentioning that Nordic Affect or NOA is the
first Icelandic chamber group that is solely made up of musicians
that have specialised in performing on original instruments. The
group was established in 2005 by Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir
baroque violinist and Karl Nyhlin lute player and now counts nine
members. The group has performed in the Nordic countries and has
been well received.
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The
Culture House’s exhibition Icelandic Fashion –
a bridge between cities: Cologne-Reykjavík-Berlin
26 February 2007
 The
exhibit Icelandic Fashion, opened by Prime Minister Geir
H. Haarde on 29 June 2006, showed how nature and its contrasts inspire
the ten Icelandic designers presented. Softness and harshness, light
and darkness, delicacy and coarseness are reflected in the exciting
and independent fashion that ranks among the most interesting within
the fashion scene today. The exhibit was taken down on 27 February
2007.
The exhibit came to Reykjavík from Cologne where it had been
a part of the art festival Islandbilder, held by Icelandic authorities
in November 2005. The exhibit moves back to Germany, this time around
to Berlin. The flourishing arts and culture scene in Berlin is a
perfect setting for the creative prowess of Icelandic designers.
The curator Matthias Wagner K bridges the gap between the cities
and puts the exhibit up in all three places. For the last days of
the exhibit here in Reykjavík the designers put their latest
collections on view, collections that will be shown in Berlin.
The exhibit will be opened 14 March in Felleshus, a collective
gallery of the embassies of the Nordic countries in Berlin, and
will be on view until 3 May. There it will be a part of a larger
exhibit on Icelandic fashion and design as not only clothes but
also furniture and other items will be displayed.
The exhibit constituted a fresh start within the Culture Houses
line of exhibits since it was the first exhibit that only focused
on one aspect of modern Icelandic culture. The initiative was well
received. It broadened the clientele of the Culture Houses exhibits
and textiles teachers visited the display along with their students
and received a guided tour from the Culture House educator and some
projects to work on.
The Culture House issued an attractive exhibition catalogue with
photographs of the designs and text on the fashion items, the designers
and the curator’s concept in three languages; Icelandic, English
and German. The catalogue is available in the Culture House shop.
The Culture House wishes to thank the curator Matthias Wagner K
and Sabine Schirdewahn from Agentur für Gute Gestaltung,
Ruth Bobrich at the Icelandic Embassy in Berlin, Helga I. Stefánsdóttir,
costume designer, and the sponsors; Moch Figuren, Icelandair
and Faco. The ten designers: Björg Ingadóttir
and Vala Torfadóttir from Spaksmannsspjarir, Ásta
Guðmundsdóttir from ásta créative clothes,
Þorbjörg Valdimarsdóttir, Rósa Helgadóttir,
Anna Guðmundsdóttir, Dóra Emilsdóttir,
Ragna Fróða, Jóna Björg Jónsdóttir
from jbj design and Steinunn Sigurðardóttir
with the STEiNUNN label, are thanked for their participation
and contribution.
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Museum
Night at the Culture House
23 February 2007
 Museum
Night was held on Friday, 23 February from 7 – 12 pm. The
Culture House offered free admission to exhibits and a varied programme
for young and old:
The Grand Finale of the
exhibition Icelandic Fashion Design, featuring ten Icelandic designers.
For the final days of the exhibit the design items were replaced
by the latest fashion from the designers. Four of them put up their
new designs live on Museum Night. The exhibit will close on 27 February.
The composer, singer and
musician Ólöf Arnalds performed songs from her newly
released solo CD.
The scriptorium in the
Manuscripts Exhibition was open for a hands-on experience involving
writing with a quill on some parchment using homemade ink.
Man and Nature: A film by the renowned nature filmmaker Páll
Steingrímsson documenting the coexistence of animals and
man in Icelandic nature was screened continuously.
The museum shop and cafeteria were open.
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