Hveragerði’s Creative Streak Shows At Listasafn Árnesinga
Hveragerði is a discrete sort of town. Tucked away just over the dramatic Hellisheiði pass, many southbound travellers pass by its steam plumes and glowing greenhouses all too qu
New US Artist C^VES Debuts Iceland-Inspired LP
C^VES is a new music project by Burke Jam, a musician and sound artist who came to Iceland in 2015 to explore the country’s sonic terrain. Burke experienced a formative [&hel
Photos: Inside Vatnajökull’s Majestic Ice Caves
Our intrepid photographer Art Bicnick recently took a drive around Iceland’s frozen southern coastline, coming back with a treasure trove of images. One of the stops was the
Happening Tonight: Milkywhale & GKR
If you’re warming up for Sónar Reykjavík next week, there’s a fun party going down at Húrra tonight. One of the bright lights of Iceland’s recently energised r
Love Molecules: Two First-Time Curators Take On The Biggest Subject Of All
Reykjavík’s annual Museum Night is an annual celebration of the city’s art and culture scene when galleries, museums and cultural institutions throw open their doors, with fre
Survival Sports: The Arctic Winter Games Come To Nuuk
Greenland’s capital, the seaside harbour city of Nuuk, is an interesting mixture of old and new. Walking around the city centre, you quickly pass everything from the national mus
Kling & Bang Gallery Takes Over Icelandic TV Nights
Leading Icelandic contemporary art organisation Kling & Bang are running an ambitious programme to spread video art over the TV airwaves. Entitled “Night Transmission: El
#GVpics: The Week’s Best Instagrams Of Iceland
Each week here at the Grapevine, we look through all the posts on Instagram that were tagged #GVpics. We get a dizzying range of entries, from people’s artwork, pets, hotel [
Iceland Whatever: Indie Label Aims To Break Icelandic Bands In US
Bryan Riebeek is an imposing, bearded American fellow who might look familiar to those who like to paint the town red (or other less appealing colours) during Iceland Airwaves. He
Crashed Planes, Ancient Graves, Bounding Reindeer: A Kangerlussuaq Guide
Kangerlussuaq, population 500, is a tiny town in West Greenland that’s built around its airport – a former US base that’s now Greenland’s biggest air travel
Milkywhale’s Guide To Sónar 2016
Our favourite emergent band from Airwaves ’15 was the all-singing-all-dancing party band Milkywhale, the project of dancer, singer, and loveable stage dynamo Melkorka Magnús
Airwaves Never Sleeps: PJ Harvey & More Announced For 2016
The people behind the Iceland Airwaves festival haven’t been resting on their laurels this winter—they’ve been beavering away in the darkness to prepare the 2016 fest
Future Aesthetics: Holly Herndon Pushes The Boundaries
Holly Herndon’s ‘Platform’ is one of the most dense, dizzying, constantly surprising electronica LPs of recent times. Devoutly experimental in nature, it melds broken beats,
It’s Museum Night Tonight! Here’s A Brief Guide…
Tonight is Museum Night in Reykjavík—an annual evening during which the city’s museums stay open late, with many hosting special events, and all offering free entry from 7
Bára Gísladóttir’s Performances Are Full Of Surprises
In a dimly lit, pin-drop quiet Mengi, young composer and musician Bára Gísladóttir lies onstage on her back, behind her double bass. Barely visible, she starts to make sound—a
Holly Herndon On The Excitement Of Live Performance
Ahead of the forthcoming Sónar Reykjavík festival, we recently spoke at length to rising electronica star Holly Herndon, who’ll be performing on Friday 19th at SonarHall. Y
Visit Sólheimajökull: A Glacier In Retreat
As the dizzy heights of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier come into view, most people understandably feel a magnetic pull to the otherworldly ice cap. The most accessible place to sati
On Your Own: Six Spots In South Iceland
The majestic Route One ring road threads down through the mountains from Reykjavík to Iceland’s southern coastline, passing an endless trove of natural wonders along the way
PHOTOS: Grapevine In Greenland – The Director’s Cut
Last November, we took a one-week trip to Greenland, visiting the cities and towns of Nuuk, Kangerlussuaq and Sisimiut. Along the way, we tried to pack in everything we could, [&he
Frontier Photography: Ásgeir Pétursson’s Amazing Greenland Pictures
Ásgeir Pétursson is a 23-year-old photographer who’s just opened an exhibition at Reykjavík’s Greenland Centre, at the top of Laugavegur. He first went to Greenland in Janua
A Space Of Colour: Tonik Ensemble On Making The Album Of 2015
Sometimes, “dance music” goes beyond its implied mission of moving people’s feet, and moves them in other ways, too. Grapevine’s album of the year 2015—Tonik Ensemble’s