Reykjavík, a small city nestled in the western coast of the North Atlantic Island of Iceland, is renowned for it’s late night club scene, bars in the city center and Iceland’s highest acclaimed music festival, Iceland Airwaves. Since Iceland Airwaves inception in an airplane hanger in 1999, this event has evolved into not only Iceland’s premier music festival, but a major destination for festival goers around the world. Present day Iceland Airwaves is 5 days of nonstop music at several venues around the city ranging from trendy cafes and ornate churches to funky late night clubs.
Past lineups have seen trending international artists with the likes of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Rapture,Hozier, The Flaming Lips, The War on Drugs and many more. Some of these artists have credited their sets at Iceland Airwaves as jumpstart to their way to the main stage in the music scene. 2015’s addition to did not come up short with appearances by Father John Misty, Hot Chip, Beach House, Flo Morissey, Hundred Waters and a boat load more favorites from all genres.
A special touch for this years Iceland Airwaves was the introduction of the first ever WALLPOETRY. This special collaboration between IA’s curatorial lead, Henny M. Frímannsdóttir and Urban Nation Berlin’s Director, Yasha Young, was designed to transform the walls of Reykjavík, Iceland into intricate art pieces inspired by teams of musicians and artists. In this collaboration, musicians were asked to provide the street artists with a song, lyrics or poetry especially chosen or written for this project. The results were amazing large scale paintings on many city walls.
“Iceland Airwaves is very excited about the project and can’t wait to make Reykjavik even more beautiful,” declares Frímannsdóttir. “We loved the idea to combine these two art forms to make something really amazing and thought this was a great add on to the festival experience.”
‘Wall Poetry’ stands for Young’s idea to connect more creative minds from all over the world with one another and encourage artistic and creative exchange far beyond the inside of a gallery or the recording studio. “The goal was to take the invisible creative process when a painter listens to a record while painting, or a musician sees a certain painting or art installation and wants to incorporate the emotional experience and inspiration in her or his songs and connect this process between the two on a very special collaborative platform,” explains Young.
It’s safe to say that the city of Reykjavík will never be the same after Iceland Airwaves. This festival and city will continue to flourish and grow in the global music scene. Next years dates are set for November 2-6, 2016. It’s never too early to start planning an amazing music festival trip to Iceland Airwaves!!
Photo Credits:
Alexander Matuhkno, Anita Eldjarn, Erik Luyten, Florian Trykowski