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The City of Reykjavík would like to thank everyone who sailed-out to Viðey Island last night to share a moment of peace on John Lennon’s birthday and witness the illumination of the Imagine Peace Tower – Yoko Ono’s powerful tribute to John Lennon's vision of world peace.

Around 2,000 people were in attendance at the ceremony, which is one of the best attended events since the Imagine Peace Tower was installed in 2007. Yoko Ono, who was made an honorary citizen of Reykjavík prior to the ceremony for her great contribution to peace and humanity, and for choosing the city as a platform to spread her message, was thrilled with the reception and expressed sincere gratitude to both public and staff for their co-operation and for making the event one of the most magical and memorable yet.

Share a unique moment of peace in Reykjavík City

The Illumination of Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower will take place on John Lennon’s birthday on 9 October 2013, at 8PM.

As has become tradition over the past few years, Yoko Ono invites guests to share a moment of peace, and witness up-close the spectacular illumination of the Imagine Peace Tower – a powerful dedication to John Lennon’s vision of peace.

Ferry and bus services to and from Viðey Island are complimentary. Departures from Skarfabakki pier to Viðey Island sail from 6PM, with shuttle-bus connections to and from the pier leaving from Hlemmur bus terminal. Shuttles to the pier depart every 20 minutes from Hlemmur, with the first bus leaving at 6:40PM. The last bus departs at 7:40 PM.

After the closing event, the first ferry from Viðey Island departs at 9PM and sails back to the pier, where shuttle-bus services will be waiting to collect guests and transfer them back to Hlemmur. The shuttle service will operate until 10:30PM.

From Thursday 10th October the Imagine Peace Tower tours will begin operation and continue every evening until 8th December. More information on these tours and cost can be found at www.elding.is.

Visit Reykjavík encourages everyone to make the most of this unique opportunity,

Two exhibitions opened by Alexander Rodchenko and the Kjarval Complete 2- The Banks‘ Collections at Kjarvalsstaðir 5 October

The exhibition, Revolution in Photography by Alexander Rodchenko will be opened at the Reykjavík Art Museum’s Kjarvalsstaðir site 5 October 5 at 4 p.m . The exhibition is a retrospective of Rodchenko´s works, who was one of the leading Russian avant-garde artists. At the same time the exhibition Kjarval Complete 2 – The Banks‘ Collections will be opened at Kjarvalsstaðir. The exhibition is one aspect of the Reykjavík Art Museum‘s intention to provide as comprehensive a view as possible of Kjarval‘s oeuvre.  

It is a great honour for Reykjavík Art Museum to display the exhibition of Rodchenko’s work, which has been shown in many countries around the world in the past few years. No-one with an interest in art, political history, photography or graphic art should miss this unique chance to experience Rodchenko’s work. The exhibition is from the collection of the Moscow House of Photography Museum/ Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow. The curator of the exhibition is Olga Sviblova, one of the best known curators of Russia and the producer is Ragnheiður Kristín Pálsdóttir.

This exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of an important milestone in Icelandic-Russian relations: in 2013, seventy years have passed since the two countries established diplomatic relations on 4 October 1943, nearly a year before the modern Republic of Iceland was formally established on 17 June 1944.

 Born in St. Petersburg in 1891, Rodchenko worked in Moscow as an artist and designer from 1915. He used different media in his art: starting out as a painter and sculptor, he moved on to photography in 1925.  He was a pioneer in photography and graphic design, designing book covers, posters and advertisements in collaboration with Varvara Stepanova, his wife and closest colleague.

The exhibition Kjarval Complete 2 – The Banks‘ Collections provides an unprecedented opportunity to see the Icelandic banks‘ entire Kjarval collections in one place. Over the years Icelandic banks have purchased and conserved many works by Icelandic artists, and they own large collections of art works by Jóhannes S. Kjarval, one of Iceland’s leading artists of the 20th century. The paintings normally hang in meeting rooms and public halls of bank branches all over Iceland but at this exhibition the general public can see all those works at Kjarvalsstaðir.  The exhibition is one aspect of the Reykjavík Art Museum‘s intention to provide as comprehensive a view as possible of Kjarval‘s oeuvre. The museum has displayed all of its own Kjarval works at the exhibition Kjarval Complete, which stood from December 2012 until May 2013. On this occasion the spotlight is on Kjarval‘s art owned by Icelandic Banks. These include many masterpieces never before seen publically exhibitions. The works are hung in the spirit of the salon, covering the walls of the galleries from floor to ceiling.

www.listasafnreykjavikur.is

For more info: 

www.riff.is

The 79th PEN International Congress will be held in Reykjavík from September 9 – 12 2013. The theme is Digital Frontiers: Linguistic Rights and Freedom of Speach. 

Parts of the Congress programme are open to the public, as part of PEN International’s roaming event series, Free the Word!

The Reykjavík International Literary Festival will coincide with the congress, as it starts on September 12 and runs through the 15. Furthermore, the Reykjavik UNESCO City of Literature will host off-venue readings with Icelandic and international authors in connection with these events on Monday and Tuesday, September 9th and 10th.

The program consists of readings, seminars, a literary death-match, interviews and discussions with both international and Icelandic authors. You can also meet your favourite author and dance with him or her on the Bi-Annual Literary Ball on Saturday evening, September 14th.

The events take place at the Nordic House, Idno Theatre, Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre and other locations in central Reykjavík.

See the full program on the Reykjavik International Literary Festival website and on Facebook.

This year the LÓKAL theatre festival takes place in Reykjavík from August 28th - September 1st.
 
This is the festival’s 6th edition and presents quirky, stripped-down, edgy performances complimented with storytelling and the use of both out-of-date and state-of-the-art technology. With performances by up-and-coming theatre-makers from Norway, Finland, Canada, Belgium and Iceland, the festival once again introduces cutting-edge drama to local audiences.
For further information on the program and tickets, please visit the festival’s official website.
 

Reykjavík Culture Night will be held for the eighteenth time on August 24. The event, which is created and enjoyed by city residents, takes place all over Reykjavík with celebrations in city streets and squares, in museums, businesses and even in residential gardens! The event’s slogan “come on in!” is a reference to those good old fashioned customs of hospitality.

Culture Night is now a permanent fixture on the annual calendar of events in Reykjavík and marks the start of the city’s cultural year, when museums, theatres and other cultural institutions launch their annual program of events.

The main objective of Culture Night is to encourage participants to deliver a diverse and rich offering of cultural events with a taste of something for everyone and a few surprises too!

Schedule for Reykjavík Culture Night 2013.

Reykjavík Culture Night 2013 will be officially launched on 24 August at 12.30 p.m. with the unveiling of a sculpture by the American artist Rafael Barrios at Höfðatún. The Mayor of Reykjavík, Jón Gnarr will unveil the work, Obtusa. 

Last winter nine sculptures by Barrios were exhibited along a Park Avenue, New York attracting great attention and admiration. The location of the Obtusa in Reykjavík has been chosen so that people can walk around the sculpture and observing how the shapes of this 4 m tall three-dimensional sculpture change from different viewpoints.

Rafael Barrios (b. 1947) is internationally recognized for his art. Many art collections around the works own works by Barrios, such as the Caracas Contemporary Art Museum in Venezuela, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada, and the Museum of Outdoor Sculpture of Alcalá de Henarés, Spain.

Hafþór Yngvason, Director of the Reykjavík Art Museum: “I am very happy that the public in this country should have the opportunity to enjoy this sculpture by Rafael Barrios. Obtusa works well in its location by Höfðatorg, and it is readily accessible. I hope that it will receive the same attention and admiration in Reykjavík as it did in New York last year.”

After the ceremony, Reykjavík Art Museum invites guests to participate in a guided art tour along Sæbraut with Heiðar Kári Rannversson project manager.  

For more info: www.artmuseum.is

Visit Reykjavík, the city’s official marketing agency, recently hosted a successful multi-media business symposium at the award winning Harpa concert hall.

Apart from presenting Reykjavík as an exciting festival city with some great video snapshots showcasing all the city’s current major festivals; the main objective of the gathering was to introduce the new festival fund and bring together festival organizers and other important business partners from all areas of the tourist industry in order to discuss new and exciting opportunities within the cultural landscape of Reykjavík. The event, which was hosted by our very own Einar Þór Bárðarson (Director of Visit Reykjavík) and Einar Örn Benediktsson (Chariman of the Board of Culture and Tourism), invited key members from our partners at Icelandair, Promote Iceland, Iceland Naturally, Meet in Reykjavík, the Foreign Ministry and Design March to panel the event, lead discussions and engage in some creative discourse on the mutual goal of marketing and promoting Reykjavík City.

The annual Reykjavík Jazz Festival kicks-off for the 24th time on 15th August this year and will present some of the incredible musical talent found in Iceland together with an international first class line up.

International superstars like the Joshua Redman Quartet with Aaron Goldberg, Rueben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson, mix a deep respect for the tradition of jazz with an uncanny ability to harness the unknown and unexpected. Winner of the 2011 Nordic Music Prize, Mats Gustafsson presents a solo concert where the extremes of the saxophone are explored.

As usual the Reykjavík Jazz Festival presents a variety of concerts performed by our local talent, among them guitar veteran Jon Pall Bjarnason, who will put to rest any notion of a generation gap in music. There will also be many opportunities to hear up-and-coming talent as well as the seasoned artists of rhythmic music.

Festival passes are already on sale and can be purchased on the festival web site.
 

Reykjavík Culture Night will be held for the eighteenth time this year on 24th August.