News

The winner of the Nordic Dummy Award will be announced at 16:00 on the 21st March at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography. Associated lectures on the awards will take place on the same day at the museum.

The Nordic Dummy Award has been presented annually since 2012. The competition, which is overseen by the Oslo Fotogalleriet, invites photographers working in or associated with the Nordic countries to submit prototypes of their work in the form of a “photobook dummy”. Nominated books are then exhibited widely throughout the Nordics with the winning entry published by German fine-art and contemporary photography publisher, Kehrer Verlag.

The shortlisted books are on show at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography from 16th-26th March.  The Reykjavik Museum of Photography is honoured to be taking part in the Nordic Dummy Award touring exhibition. The presentation of these works highlights the growing number of photography books now published in Iceland.

Nordic Dummy Award Nominations 2018:

Øystein Agerlie. Norway. Encyclopaedia of Man

Celeste Arnstedt & Petter Wessel, Denmark & Norway. Olivenbjerget (Mount Olivet)

Theo Elias, Sweden. Smoke

August Eriksson, Sweden. Kaihogyo

Anna Hyvärinen, Denmark. Lost Identity

Ole Nesset, Norway. Unburdened Migration.

Steffen Kloster Poulsen. Denmark. 6 not taken, and You Deserve Hell

Matilde Søes Rasmussen, Denmark. Uprofessionel [Unprofessional]

Tina Umer, Sweden. Danish Mountains.

For more information click here

Reykjavík is the capital, and in fact Iceland’s only city, and as such it plays a vital role in all cultural life in the country. The city is home to Iceland’s main cultural institutions, boasts a flourishing arts scene and is renowned as a creative city with a diverse range of cultural happenings and dynamic grassroots activities. Most of the country’s writers live in the city, and it also provides the setting for the majority of contemporary Icelandic literature – a development that has gone hand in hand with the rapid expansion of the city in the past 100 years or so.

LITERARY HERITAGE

Reykjavík is home to Icelandic medieval literature, including the Sagas of the Icelanders and the Poetic Edda, landmarks of world literature still widely read and translated today. This literary heritage is the core of the nation’s identity and narrative art is the single most important part of its cultural history. The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík is the centre of this heritage. It preserves manuscripts, conducts research on them and publishes texts for the public, in addition to offering research facilities and tutoring to foreign scholars and students. The Arnamagnean Manuscript Collection was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register on July 31st 2009.

THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE

Iceland is one of the smallest linguistic areas in the world, with only around 340.000 inhabitants and very few speakers outside the country. The language has not changed much since the time of settlement in the 9th century and modern Icelanders can still read the original medieval texts with relative ease. Literature plays a vital role in cherishing and cultivating the language, both original Icelandic literature and translations. Language undergoes constant renewal and development in fiction, and translation of foreign work has also been instrumental in conserving this thousand year old literary language.

WORLD LANGUAGE CENTRE

The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding was opened at the University of Iceland in 2017. The objective of the centre is to foster world languages with all available facilities for teaching and research, and for disseminating knowledge of languages and culture. By establishing such a language centre in Iceland, The Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute wants to encourage language skills and cultural literacy in Iceland, and to call international attention to the value of such an education. The institute also wants to expand knowledge of languages and increase general awareness of the importance of language for the culture of individual language communities, and world culture in general. The World Language Centre will be one of the key partners of Reykjavík UNESCO City of Literature. It is a UNESCO Category 2 centre. 

For more information you can check out the website of Reykjavík City of Literature 

Here is also a great article from the Literary Ladies Guide 

The European Film Awards will be held in the Icelandic capital in December 2022. Originally it was supposed to be held in December 2020, but because of the pandemic, it was postponed. The decision was announced by the European Film Academy, the City of Reykjavík, and the Icelandic government. 

Stockfish Film Festival in Reykjavík will be held for the fifth time 28th of February to 10th of March in Bíó Paradís.

Perlan museum just opened up a world-class planetarium in one of it‘s water tanks, the first of it‘s kind in Iceland. Built as a part of a nature exhibition in Perlan called Wonders of Iceland which already includes the exhibitions Glaciers and Ice cave, and Water in Icelandic Nature.

The first film produced by Perlan is a 8K resolution Northern Lights show, Áróra. A piece of art that brought together Iceland’s best known writers, musician and photographers. It’s a journey, through the unique landscape of Iceland, to observe Northern lights as you’ve never seen them. Taking you across time and space, to understand the science behind the mystery, and the stories we believed for millenniums. Way beyond the traditional planetarium experience!

First you will see a short film called Lost in time – which delivers a mesmerizing view of the beautiful Icelandic nature. The dome‘s 360 degree perspective, gives life to natural phenomenons like waterfallls, glaciers, lava fields and volcano eruptions, with it‘s exceptional screen quality.  Then the screening of the film Áróra starts. The film is a combination between the mystical features of the Northern Lights, Icelandic nature, and the fascination of them through the ages. Definitely a must see for anyone interested in these astronomical sensations.

For more information visit the Perlan Museum‘s website

The British newspaper The Telegraph just published a list with 23 of the most amazing European cities for eating out, and is our beutiful city of Reykjavík one of them. 

The capital area has over 200 restaurants and new restaurant openings are happening very frequently. So wether you are a fish, meat, or a veggie lover it‘s certain you can find something to your liking!

New restaurants in town include Mímir,  the restaurant in Hotel Saga, Shellfish Market, a sister restaurant to the Fish Market and the Grill Market, and Le Kock located in the Exeter hotel.

For a list of restaurants in the capital area check out our wine and dine section. 

For the full Telegrap article click here

Winter Lights Festival 2019

Winter Lights Festival is an annual event that celebrates both the winter world and the growing sun light after a long period of darkness. The program consists of light installations, culture and outdoor activities. The festival provides entertainment for Reykjavík’s locals and guests alike. The programme reflects the many faces of Reykjavík´s capital area; with the participation of all the major museums and thermal pools.

The Winter Lights Festival 2019 will take place 7.- 10.  February and all events are FREE of charge except The Northernlights Run. 
 
The Winter Lights Walking Path

Every night during the festival  six light installations will be illuminated from 19-23. Take a walk around the city centre and experience the light installation.  Here are all the building in the walk: Hallgrímskirkja - Passage eftir Nocturnal, Tiny Massive - Harpa Concert Hall, Museum of the Moon - Harpa Concert Hall, Second Litany - Reykjavík Art Museum – Hafnarhús,  ALDA - Reykjavík City Hall and De-LuX - National Gallery of Iceland.
                                
Museum Night takes place 8. February 2019 and is Winter Lights Festival’s most popular event.  Museums across the capital area open their doors and entertain their guests with happenings such as dance, theatre, lectures, live music, film, literature readings and much more free of charge. All  museums are open from 18.00-23.00. Here is a list of all the museums participating in the Winter Lights Festival

Pool Night takes place on 9.  February 2019 and invites visitors to try many of the city's exceptional thermal pools for FREE. Pool Night added attractions include thrilling in-pool activities, music and pool illuminations. And if you are lucky you might get a glimpse of the Northern Lights while relaxing in a hot tub in one of the outdoor pools. Here you can find a list of all swimming pools in Pool night. 

For more information visit the festival's  website 

Magic Ice Reykjavík is an ice bar and ice art gallery which just opened up on the main street Laugavegur. Magic Ice Reykjavík is part of a Norwegian franchise that currently has four locations in Norway and one in Denmark. 

The ice-art gallery features sculptures that draw upon the Icelandic sagas and Viking history for inspiration. In addition to the gallery, the venue includes a pub with a bar carved out of ice. 

For more information check their website 

The Northern Lighst Run is a 4-5 km long fun run or a walk through downtown Reykjavik where runners will see the city in a new and colourful light. Ditch your inhibitions and go all out in the illuminated streets of Reykjavík. All participants get their very own illuminating merchandise to use during the event, making you a part of the entire show from start to finish.  This event is part of the Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival that has been celebrated the last 18 years.

For more information check their website 

The skies are bright blue and the snow is crisp in the capital area and many parts of Iceland. For the first time this winter the ski resorts around the country are open. 

Bláfjöll, the blue mountains ski area just outside Reykjavik is open today until 9 pm.  But dress warmly, the temperature is -8°C. Equipment rental available on the spot. 

For more information go to this website

The Reykjavík International Games, or RIG, are held annually in January to increase the competitiveness of Icelandic Athletes while reducing their travel costs by creating a unique international event in the city of Reykjavík that attracts strong foreign competitors.