Ólafur Eliasson.

The artist I most feel connected with.
The ideologies are exceptional, and his conversations called "Life in Space" are also exceptional.



It is true about distance perception in Iceland; early cartographers mapped the country bigger and smaller across the fjords because of light and perception. Also very good points about presence, existentialism, and art.

There is definitely a tangible reality that is important within the experience of art, a physical presence with surrounding environments.

Immersive Environments, Before the Storm...

On a roadtrip along the south of Iceland I came across a few environments that were so unique, inspiring, otherworldly, and stunning that they will no doubt show themselves later in experiments with immersive environments in the studio.







Our journey was rich with drama, danger, and doubt as we got caught in a GIANT Icelandic wind storm that picked up the earth and moved it around. We saw ice, dust, dirt, and volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajökull (THAT volcano) flying through the air, creating large walls we would drive through, or it would whip across the road threatening to catch us with it. The storm hit us at Jökullsárlón, the glacier lagoon, breaking the drivers side door and whipping us into meek submission to the true power of nature.

We would drive through conditions so dramatic and theatrical it felt like a film, all at once we would be surrounded by dust and ash, with only our headlights to find the white lines of the road in the dark Icelandic winter, then all at once it would break, and we would see a force of wind moving an enormous wall of dirt, dust, and ash across the wide open plains beneath the glaciers. At one point we were in the eye of the storm, encircled by sky high barriers of dust and ash, moving forward with us, as if it was doing it's best to protect us from itself but it couldn't keep it's ferocious side at bay and it changed direction, we drove through it's sky high barriers and into more lashings and whippings from every direction. It was a 5 hour game of tag that would hit the car and we would have to be at peace with the bullying of our superior.

My camera broke (due to ash) but above is a few snaps of things we saw before the storm.

Feels like heima.

After a trip home to Australia to be a part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival's keynote project Visible City I am back in Iceland! This time I will spend December at SIM Artist Residency in Reykjavik.

Here's a short film that highlights a few ethics and circumstances of Iceland that has captured my heart about this country.