– MUPIMUP – CREATIVITY WORKING HARD IN ICELAND -
Mupimup.net Activity in East Iceland
Patak and Rósa giving a presentation of the place and activities.
A collection of images from the visit
In our symposium in East Iceland we went around the region visiting various creatives. It was as always very stimulating seeing all the energy and enthusiasm that goes on all over Iceland. In my mind I ponder two reasons for this: a) Iceland is so small that we are almost all partly or fully educated abroad while almost all return home to their origins but with lots of connections and experiences. b) After the finance collapse of the grown upp bankers and fish/aluminium business dreamers Icelanders have opened up their old dreams of being special in the Mid-North Atlantic between Europe and America. The athmosphere that I remember from my youth before the aluminium smelting took over the minds of business. 
Iceland is a very young economy and actually a state, only gaining freedom from Danish control during the last World War and the young culture still needs some generations to mature. The design school that we started just over a decade ago is really now only gaining some history, locally educated academics and dialogue. But still development needs more time to grow up. While I say this I am also happy to say that the old fashioned and greatly damaging academic control that is dominant in neighbouring countries has not managed to kill fresh ways of dealing with life and responding to modern needs. This is what makes me proud to be an Icelander.
The gang in Stöðvarfjörður is a typical such great energy creating continuation of work in creativity, changing a dead fish factory into a creative centre by local people in collaboration with foreign energy that is so great to have with us in Iceland. I just must state my admiration for their great work, both the ‘returners’ (Icelanders educated abroad that have returned) and the ‘new Icelanders’ (people that somehow have fallen in love with our culture).
I ask readers here to distribute the news of this effort and maybe look for potential collaborations in form of visiting designers/artists, collaborative courses from academic institutions or just potential dream creations in opposition to the bad industry and economy that is badly damaging the Icelandic (and actually Western) culture.
Some more news about this effort is here.
September 29, 2012
Posted in: ART, DESIGN, FASHION, GENDER DESIGN, ICELAND, PONDERINGS, SUSTAINABILITY
