still from 90s (2007) by Lina Bjørn Larsen and Anna Wolf

Icelandic Waves at Australian Cinémathèque
May 9-30, 2008
The Australian Cinémathèque at Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane presents a series of documentaries and video programs celebrating the extraordinary music culture of Iceland. The program features Heima (2007), the first live film by Sigur Rós and specially curated programs of video clips and short films by some of Iceland’s most accomplished artists, filmmakers and musicians.

May 16, 6pm | Cold Hearts 3: Foreign Relations (see below)
May 23, 6pm | Cold Hearts (click for details)
May 30, 6 pm | Cold Hearts Revisited (click for details)

The Australian Cinematheque is part of the Queensland Gallery and is located at Stanley Place, South Bank in Brisbane.

View complete list of films and times here.

Package Deals proudly presents
COLD HEARTS 3: FOREIGN RELATIONS
Contemporary Icelandic Culture in Two Acts

Fri 16 May 6.00pm / Cinema A / WORLD PREMIERE
Australian Cinémathèque, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, AU

Featuring artists and filmmakers: Kristjan Zaklynsky, Icelandic Love Corporation, Lina Bjørn Larsen and Anna Wolf, Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, Una Lorenzen, Hermann Karlsson; and the music of Múm, Seabear, Nico Muhly, and Valgeir Sigurdsson with Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Also premiering the new documentary Steypa by Markús Thór Andrésson and Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir.

Both a literal question of Icelandicness and a more poetic consideration of how artistic sentiment is manifested, Cold Hearts 3: Foreign Relations expands the portrait of national creativity showcased in Package Deals’ previous two Icelandic film programs. This latest exploration into contemporary Icelandic culture, commissioned for the Australian Cinémathèque, features a host of music videos, video art, short films, and a brand-new documentary. While the majority of the artists included in the program live and work in Iceland itself, Cold Hearts 3: Foreign Relations also includes non-Icelandic artists working in Iceland, as well as Icelandic artists who reside elsewhere.

One of the major elements foregrounding this program is collaboration, which pervades the artistic, musical, and filmic output in Iceland today. It informs the computer-rendered psychedelic animations of half-Icelandic, half-American artist Kristjan Zaklynsky and Danish-born Lina Bjørn Larsen, working with German artist Anna Wolf; all three live in Reykjavik. It also underscores a pair of music videos by artists from the influential local record label Bedroom Community: young American composer Nico Muhly, who often works and records in Iceland, and the pairing of well-known local producer (and label founder) Valgeir Sigurdsson and ubiquitous American indie troubadour, Bonnie "Prince" Billy (aka Will Oldham). Their videos, in turn, are created by Icelandic filmmaker Una Lorenzen, herself a graduate film student at CalArts near Los Angeles. Similarly, the one-minute short film, Dog, was made by animator Hermann Karlsson, an Icelander who now calls Scotland home. And Steypa, the new documentary on contemporary Icelandic art, fresh from Hot Docs in Toronto, is brought to you by two Icelandic expats, Markús Thór Andrésson, currently living in Berlin, and Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir, a resident of NYC.

The otherworldly tone of this program is, of course, evident in the films themselves. While the landscape of Iceland is an influential mainstay touching all aspects of one’s experience, these films ponder natural and imagined worlds; they are equally preoccupied with artificial, inorganic forms of art and life. Whether it's the fascinating, performative work of internationally-exhibited, female art collective Icelandic Love Corporation, the lovingly vintage magic realist animations of Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir (who moonlights in the up-and-coming indie folk band Seabear), or the rave-happy, natural-synthetic clashings in Larsen's and Wolf's video, 90s, nature often functions as a point of departure to more whimsical and outlandish territory. And Steypa, the ambitious documentary rounding out the program, features a crop of extraordinary young artists looking at their environment in unusual ways. They are using ancient materials to new ends, bringing nature in from the outside as well as privileging the manmade objects and unconventional obsessions that constitute their artistic practice. The film is a fascinating glimpse into the work of individuals both participating in and set apart from the global contemporary art landscape.

From the newly refashioned pop stylings of the well-known band Múm to the unique aesthetic visions of the latest crop of young multidisciplinary visual artists and filmmakers—whose work is shown at galleries as well as at festivals like Sundance and Clermont-Ferrand—this collection reflects the exuberant multifaceted spirit of not only the Package Deals' ethos but, naturally, Iceland itself.

Thank you to Hlynur Gudjonsson, Einar Gustavsson, Kyle Reinhart, Korka Helgadottir, Jose da Silva and Australian Cinematheque, and Valgeir Sigurdsson.

Cold Hearts 3: Foreign Relations

Act 1: Video Art, Film, and Music

Lina Bjørn Larsen and Anna Wolf, 90s. (2007, video, 2:10, Denmark/Germany/Iceland)
A tongue-in-cheek, psychedelia-flecked tribute to 1990s romanticism.

Múm, They Made Frogs Smoke Til They Exploded. (Dir: Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir) (2007, video, 4:19, Iceland)
Demented childrens' collages illustrate this song from the band's latest album, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy.

Kristjan Zaklynsky, Mayfair. (2007, video, 3:27, Iceland/USA)
An abstract yet organic composition in space, featuring fractals, particles, and synthesizers.

Nico Muhly, It Goes Without Saying. (Dir: Una Lorenzen) (2007, animation, 4:32, Iceland/USA)
This video for New York-based composer Nico Muhly is animated under the camera with hair, window spray, and paper cut-outs. Muhly is part of Iceland's Bedroom Community label, and spends ample time working in Iceland. Recently shown at the renowned Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France.

Seabear, I Sing I Swim. (Dirs: Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir & Sindri Már Sigfússon) (2007, video, 3:41, Iceland)
A book comes to life with pool parties, fireworks, and more. Directed by two of the band's multi-talented members.

Hermann Karlsson, Dog (Hundur). (2007, animation, 1:18, Iceland/Scotland)
A melancholic yet witty story about people’s reactions to a dog’s death, employing a mixture of 2D computer-drawn animation and painted-cell animation to create an old fashioned look. Shown in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Valgeir Sigurdsson and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Evolution of Waters. (Dir: Una Lorenzen) (2007, 35mm and animation, 4:36, Iceland/USA)
Reflecting the layered sound of the music it represents, this video was created using oil paint on glass, line drawings scratched on 35mm film, and a 16mm recording of a performance by experimental artist Miles A. Martinez.

Icelandic Love Corporation, Intimacy Circus. (2004, video, 13:12, Iceland)
In this performance video, the Reykjavik-based collective assumes the roles of post-modern angels as they push beyond the limits of their themselves and are reborn through challenge, camaraderie, love, pain, and lots of champagne.

Act 2: Icelandic Contemporary Art

Steypa (2007, video, 67 mins; Icelandic w/English subtitles, Iceland/USA)
Dirs: Markús Thór Andrésson and Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir
Featuring artists Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Gabríela Fridriksdóttir, Icelandic Love Corporation, Huginn Thór Arason, Katrín Sigurdardóttir, Margrét H. Blöndal, and Unnar Örn Jónasson Audarson

Seven of Iceland's most acclaimed young artists explore inspiration and creativity and share the diverse processes that spark a work of art in this eclectic, funky film that walks a fine line between realism and performance. Gabríela Fridriksdóttir kneads dough and wears it as a mask; Ásmundur Ásmundsson pours Coca-Cola into empty Fanta bottles; Katrín Sigurdardóttir builds a small model of a house only to throw it off of a bigger one; the Icelandic Love Corporation re-creates Van Gogh's The Starry Night in licorice; Margrét Blöndal is enchanted by gaskets in a rubber store; Huginn Thór Arason has his hair cut off and turned into a wig; and Unnar Örn Jónasson Audarson rummages for plant cuttings in a home for the elderly. The Icelandic word for “concrete” (Ásmundur's sculpting material of choice) as well as a colloquial Icelandic term for “something weird,” Steypa offers a playful and intelligent discussion of the contemporary art scene in Reykjavík. Together with curators, prominent critics, and pop star Björk, the artists frame the phenomenon of Icelandic contemporary art within the international scene and raise questions about lives dedicated to creativity. Soundtrack by Ólafur Björn Ólafsson.