Sirra Sigrun Sigurdardóttir
NEXT - 2010 1/1
Draft 2011
shown at Torstrasse 111, Berlin
I made this video especially for at an event that was part of the Frankfurt book fair, that had Iceland as focus 2011. Hundreds of Icelandic books have been translated into english, german and other languages for the fair. Many events and exhibitions were organized around the fair and this event was one of the “warm ups” taking place in Berlin.
This video is pure serendipity and finding these Viking fighting club at this moment was pure luck. I was trying to find some aspect for the work that would in some way address the identity of Iceland, the literature vikings of old times that wrote the Sagas and how this identity is reflected in the expectations of other nations towards us, especially in Germany. But I also wanted the work to somehow address current times, and the image of the vikings also fits there, the guys manly responsible for the financial meltdown, where before the crash proudly referred to as (modern) Vikings. So the video is almost a readymade, the club meets to practice these old viking martial arts, dressed up in a mixture of authentic and modern cloths, in a car park basement of a shopping mall, surrounded by brand new shiny cars and the colors of the columns are the German flag upside down. (The signs in the video read, “shop – this way”.) The video-game element only came in during editing, the material just needed something more, and the idea evolved from the way they are practicing their “Viking” skills similar to roleplaying game. “Game over” obviously pointing to the “death” of the modern business vikings.
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