CoMo No. 2: Iceland (June, 2022)

[Jürka]

REYKJAVÍK OF OUR DAYS, SECOND PART (Óskar Gíslason, 1948) #CoMoIceland
→ https://filmcentralen.dk/museum/island- ... inni-hluti

where is the iconic couple from the FIRST PART?
i miss them!

To form a mutual core


To counteract distance

[sally]

oh no! i knew they wouldn't make it! and even after they went on that romantic trip around the water treatment plant! love can be so fickle!

[sally]

sódóma reykjavík / remote control - óskar jónasson (1992) #CoMoIceland

AMAZING

90s teen punk comedy action movie. from iceland. amazing.

[Jürka]

VIOLIN POWER (Steina Vasulka, 1969/1978) #CoMoIceland

https://vimeo.com/33471337

[Jürka]

URBAN EPISODES (Steina Vasulka, 1980) #CoMoIceland

can be viewed ↓
https://stiftung-imai.de/en/videos/katalog/medium/0547

https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html ... umPage=426

For these six urban capsules filmed in Minneapolis, Steina attached different lenses and mirrors to the camera. She also used a turntable to create a pan shot moving from left to right. These works are part of the Machine Vision (1975-) corpus and reproduce elements of Allvision (1975-). A platform was set atop a turntable, and the camera and the optical devices were placed at opposite ends. While the pan shot was being filmed, the camera, equipped with mirrors and lenses, also rotated vertically and moved sideways. Certain capsules present an unusual arrangement of the urban landscape by showing both the space that the contraption revolves around and the images reflected by the mirrors or deflected by the lenses. Overall, the capsules offer a typology of the angles that a camera can adopt to break the visible world down into its different components.

Episode I: Turntable/camera with zoom lens/mirror sphere.

Episode II: Turntable/camera with zoom lens/rotating prism.

Episode III: Turntable/camera with rotating lens/moving mirror.

Episode IV: Turntable/camera with zoom lens/moving mirror (horizontal).

Episode V: Turntable/camera with zoom lens/moving mirror (vertical).

Episode VI: Turntable/camera with rotating lens/mirror sphere.

[sally]

salóme - yrsa roca fannberg (2014) #CoMoIceland

textile artist lady gets harassed by doc-making daughter asking annoying questions


living the dream

[Lencho of the Apes]

Two feature-length fictions I found on the YT; Born/Children was okay... not nearly as Haneke/van Trier edgelord as it looked at first... but nothing special. Haven't watched The Third Name yet; browsing the beginning, it looked like a womancentric v of The Trial maybe? I wish I could find a copy of Last And First Men; that's been on my watchlist since it came out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewOUqNuAW4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4dgcSSDjtg&t=22s

[sally]

check res lencho

[Jürka]

Ásmundur Sveinsson → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81smundur_Sveinsson

Ásmundarsafn (opened 1983) is dedicated to the sculptures and drawings of Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893–1982). The works to be seen there span Ásmundur's entire career and they are featured thematically as well as collectively with works of other artists. Ásmundur was one of Iceland's pioneers in the art of sculpture and his works are located both outdoors and indoors throughout the country.

Ásmundur's sculptures are exhibited inside as well as outside the museum, which is the artist's former home and studio. Ásmundur designed and built the house mostly by himself in the years 1942 to 1950. In the architecture he plays with a theme from the Arab culture along with a Mediterranean influence. A sculpture garden surrounding the museum with works by the artist stays open to the public all year round.

The Abstract Art of Ásmundur Sveinsson (Hope Millington, 1988) #CoMoIceland

A documentary which traces the development of abstract sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson and his major contribution to Icelandic art.

The Woman in the Art of Ásmundur Sveinsson (Hope Millington & Guðni Bragason, 1986) #CoMoIceland

In this documentary, we witness the manifold presence of woman as mother, lover, worker and symbol in the works of the artist, and follow the development of her role during the career of the artist.

[Jürka]

reykjavík 1955 - ósvaldur knudsen (1955) #CoMoIceland

#CoMoIceland

[Lencho of the Apes]

Ooh, thanks, Sally! I remembered your invitation at thee beginning of the month and presumed on it. Cheers!

[Jürka]

Journey to the Beginning of Time Minus Dinosaurs...


aka BIRTH OF AN ISLAND (Ósvaldur Knudsen, 1964) #CoMoIceland

[sally]

what the fuck has happened to the iceland on film site???? ARGH!

can anyone else access?

https://www.filmcentralen.dk/museum/isl ... inni-hluti

ARGH!!!!

[sally]

ignore that! i guess they had the same problem as stumfilm.dk & had to reupload everything to new places....

[sally]

reykjavík vorra daga, seinni hluti - óskar gíslason (1948) #CoMoIceland

this was made the same year that the atom station (which i'm currently reading) was published so as illustration featuring places & people definitely mentioned and the rest as suitable atmosphere, this was very exciting! (although i didn't manage to spot any of those dastardly communists)

however, the naked prancing children thing was weird....

[Jürka]

FIRE ON HEIMAEY (Vilhjálmur Knudsen, Ósvaldur Knudsen, 1975) #CoMoIceland

the pioneer of lava-cooling, physicist Thorbjörn Sigurgeirsson

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-724/lavacool.html

It is the viscosity of the lava that governs its ultimate movement. Viscosity depends upon the chemical composition of the lava and the temperature of the molten lava; viscosity increases quickly as the lava cools. The mobility of basalt is at a maximum at temperatures of 1,000 to 1,200ºC when it emerges, but when the lava's temperature has decreased to 800 ºC it firmly solidifies and does not flow any more. How far the lava reaches before it solidifies depends, therefore, upon the velocity of flow and the rate of cooling.

it is fairly easy to calculate approximately how large a lava mass will solidify due to water cooling. As the water heats up from 10ºC to a temperature of 100ºC, the steam absorbs 630 kilocalories for each kilogram of water that evaporates. Each kilogram of lava that solidifies and cools from 1,100ºC to 800ºC gives off about 190 kilocalories, and it is safe to estimate that lava that has solidified and cooled all the way down to 100ºC releases a total of about 380 kilocalories. This means that each kilogram of water cools 1.7 kilograms of lava, or that each cubic meter of water cools about 0.7 m3 of lava.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/of97-724/methods.html

On 23 January 1973, a volcanic eruption, which will not be easily forgotten, began on Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago. In a few hours most of the inhabitants had been evacuated to the mainland on ships and aircraft, and efforts were already underway to save their personal belongings. The purpose of this technical article is to report on the measures taken to prevent the lava from flowing over the town and into the harbor, namely the lava-cooling operations.

The first attempt to prevent the advance of the lava by water cooling was made two weeks [7 Feb 73] after the eruption began [23 Jan 73], but by then the lava was dangerously close to the entrance to the harbor. Firemen from the fire department in Vestmannaeyjar started to spray seawater on the headwall of creeping lava, and it soon appeared to have some effect on the lava flow. Soon thereafter, more powerful pumps were ordered from the [Icelandic] mainland and from other countries. Gradually the number of pumps was increased, but at this stage the capacity never was very significant (about 100 l s-1).

[sally]

the abstract art of ásmundur sveinsson (hope millington, 1988) #CoMoIceland
the woman in the art of ásmundur sveinsson (hope millington & guðni bragason, 1986) #CoMoIceland





ásmundur sveinsson og nóbelsskáldið (which is a clip from ósvaldar Knudsen's 1955 svipmyndir #CoMoIceland but i didn't watch the whole thing cuz there was no subs and it was talky)

Inside Ásmundur Sveinsson's studio at Sigtún. Halldor Laxness comes to visit.

skagafjörður, borgarfjörður og víðar (hannes pálsson, 1951) #CoMoIceland
https://www.islandpaafilm.dk/is/node/56099




icelandic people are the most animal-batty people ever, every film there's cute fluff


this is ludicrous, those are clearly imaginary tall trees. i spent the rest of the film looking out for anything remotely tree-ish...


apart from the scrub next to the artist, from which he is projecting tall birches or whatever, there was this romantic vision of barely credible bushes, but still nothing i'd call a tree. poor deluded, soppy-hearted icelanders...these CoMos are certainly slightly eye-opening...

[sally]

also, probably not gonna get to it in time, but love the alluring promise of aesthetic insanity in the autotranslation on the film page for öræfaferðir

https://www.islandpaafilm.dk/is/node/56542

The natural beauty of mountainous areas is unbearable.

[Jürka]

https://letterboxd.com/film/volcano-saga/

ha, it was great!
VOLCANO SAGA (Joan Jonas, 1989) #CoMoIceland

he: you dreamt...................... this means....................
she: i want to forget these puzzles.

thx for sharing — not only this one but also the "lava porn" (BIRTH OF AN ISLAND) and "lava thriller" (FIRE ON HEIMAEY)!

[sally]

leo hansen's icelandic film (1929) #CoMoIceland

danish guy, went all over nordic regions filming stuff (i already watched his faroe islands trip)

yes there's the usual nice scenery that was letting itself be filmed in mild fashion, patiently awaiting immortal fixation by peter hutton




but then...ta-da! a tree! it's so special it gets a full panning shot


and whilst this looks like a bird (bottom, slightly left of center) it's only the innate icelandic artistic temperament taking sculptural flight in a rock formation


whereas, THIS is a bird, a fluffy wuffy ickle baby bird! (and it's not even anyone from iceland filming, it must be infectious)

[Lencho of the Apes]

Boy, Last And First Men wears it's La Jetee influence on its sleeve. Science Fiction for people that don't respect science fiction. I don't think it does much justice to the source 'novel,' but the imagery of alien architectures that takes up 95% of the screen time* makes it for sure a Jiri movie. Thanks again, Sally.

*Plus 2% pictures of meadows and 3% cloud patterns.

[Jürka]

the imagery of alien architectures that takes up 95% of the screen time*
*Plus 2% pictures of meadows and 3% cloud patterns.

okay, too tempting!
gonna grab it

[sally]

okay, too tempting!
gonna grab it

all my recent (Iceland-related) viewing history...
3/
LAST AND FIRST MEN (Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2020)
... must admit i was mildly disappointed (probably due to high (irrational) expectations).

adorably absent-minded! (but for reasons of second quote i had initially discounted it and now there is now time to dis-discount)

[sally]

*no time, ugh

[sally]

life in iceland (1949) #CoMoIceland

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wat ... 949-online

no idea how this no-credit home movie of iceland ended up at the bfi, but i'll be honest, i've seen enough footage of 1940-50s iceland now.

iceland impersonating the american west (cf mangolte's the sky on location)


and something obscene going on here (it's the trees, they must be exciting)

[sally]

gnarr - gaukur úlfarsson (2010) #CoMoIceland

oh oh oh where have i heard this before???????????????

As Iceland faced all-out economic collapse in 2009, popular comedic personality Jón Gnarr conceived the idea of the Best Party. What began as a satirical statement, attempting to parody both left-wing and right-wing parties, took on a life of its own in the Reykjavik mayoral campaign. The film documents the frantic vigour and absurdity that was Gnarr’s unlikely rise to office.

[Jürka]

adorably absent-minded!

oh, so lovely you find my senility adorable!

now, when i am fully aware of what movie we are talking about i confirm that the imagery of alien architecture, pictures of meadows, and cloud patterns i found alluring. but there was moreover the voiceover (the narrative) and it was something i was not able to relate to (thus the disappointment).

[sally]

I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE HAS WATCHED A VIKING MOVIE

total CoMo failure

the together project - sólveig anspach (2016) #CoMoIceland

(not a viking movie) i am vaguely getting a sense of icelandic-ness now....

[Angel]

I have watched a viking movie in preparation for the upcoming 1984 poll! In fact the quintessential Icelandic viking classic:

Hrafninn flýgur / When the Raven Flies (1984, Hrafn Gunnlaugsson)

https://youtu.be/EGbd-rprQRs

Essentially Yojimbo/A Fistful of Dollars in viking-era/volcanic beaches.

[sally]

thank god, finally a true cinephile!