I just finished mentoring in a two week course in the Icelandic Academy of Arts. The name of the course is dialogue and idea of the course was to bring students from the whole school together, discuss art and issues and collaborate in some way. One of the concepts the school asked us to discuss was “New Iceland”. I had a lecture about words and meaning, how words can prevent us from thinking about important things because all the words are worn out. One of those words is actually “New Iceland”. There is a dream among many to rebuild Iceland in a new way. To find new ethics and values, new ways of doing business and politics. But there is quite a lot of disappointment. Those that have claimed to be the “New Iceland” have been making exactly the same mistakes as caused the fall of “Old Iceland”. So when the word comes up – the mind wants to reject it. Our group, with 10 students from visual arts, drama, music, design and architecture decided to address the issue by holding a rave in an abandoned power station. The idea was to make some kind of rain dance for the economy. Rave for the machine. The DJ read texts about investment from a Brian Tracy book improvised some prayers to the great god of the economy. The rave was quite fun. Pictures by Goddur are here. The video is here. The blog of the course is here, by Dori Gislason.
The Nordic Library week starts next monday november 7th – with the theme Magiska Norden or – “The magical north”. This is possibly one of the largest single literary events in the world as participating libraries are more than 2000. From the very beginning the week has been opened with a special ceremony; the electric lights are switched off, the candles are lit and the same text is read out loud, at the same moment in all of the participating libraries.
The Blue Planet by Andri Snær Magnason is one of the books chosen for this event. The other books are “The Shamer’s Daugher” by Lene Kaaberbøl and ”Let the right one in” by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
The Blue Planet has been published in more than 20 languages. It is published in Finland by Pieni Karhu. In Sweden by Kabusa böcker. In Denmark it was published by Gad, in Greenland by Atuakkiorfik. In the Faroe Islands by Bokadeildin. In Norway it is available as an audiobook by Karviland. The book has been translated to Norwegian by a young girl – so those that want to read it can contact me. The Library week reaches to the Baltic regions – so it is available in Estonia and Lithauenian. The play from the story has been staged in two large city theaters in Lahti and Vaasa in Finland.
Sorry – the headline was too tempting. Andri Snær Magnason is interviewed and some footage we shot for Dreamland can be seen in a new film from Charles Ferguson, the director of No End In Sight. INSIDE JOB is the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with financial insiders, politicians, and journalists including Paul Volcker, Eliot Spitzer, Barney Frank, billionaire George Soros, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, IMF president Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and economists Simon Johnson and Nouriel Roubini, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships that have corrupted American politics, regulation, and academia.
Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, INSIDE JOB was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.
Dreamland is traveling the world film festivals, just finished in Ireland, Transylvania, Warsawa, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Moscow. Also it has been screened by Cinema Politica in Canada and Sweden. You can follow Dreamland here on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Draumalandid
The Blue Planet by Andri Snær Magnason will be one of three books to be read in the Nordic Library week, 8th – 14th of November 2010, taking place in more than 2000 libraries in all the nordic and many of the Baltic countries. The theme of the Nordic Library week this year is – “The magical north”. The other books in focus this week are from the Edda, and stories by John Lindqvist and Lene Kaaberbøl. The Blue Planet has been published in more than 20 countries and staged in 6 countries. In the Göteborg Bookfair Andri will attend a seminar the 25th of September. More information in many languages can be found here.
At the screenings of Dreamland at the Toronto HotDocs Film Festival director Andri Snær Magnason gave out some bottles of pure volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull. The winners were those with the best questions at the Q&A. The bottles were signed by Jónsi that just performed in Toronto, Alex – Jónsi’s boyfriend and Andri. The idea comes from Dee Shanger – he is a member of the charity group, “Promoters Without Borders”. You can buy ash here at www.nammi.is and support the locals under the ash cloud. At the same site you can also buy Dreamland, the book in Icelandic and English, the film with English subtitles and voiceover and the soundtrack by Valgeir Sigurðsson.
The documentary film Dreamland, directed by Andri Snær Magnason and Thorfinnur Gudnason will take part in the HotDocs festival in Toronto.
Dreamaland will be screened in Winnipeg as a part of Nuna/Now festival, it will then participate in the Tel Aviv , in Poland in the end of June etc… For more information go here: www.dreamland.is
When I went to see the volcano in march I was astonished how small and human the scale of it was. You could come very close. The volcano was warm like a camp fire, the sound like a heartbeat, the lava like breaking glass. It was extremely romantic in the night under northern lights. If you look at my video – you will see that it spewed almost no ash, just a small white puffy cloud. It was a nice volcano – or a sleeping dragon – or it was just the birth of something larger.
