Culture Night 2017
Welcome to the Culture House on Culture Night and enjoy various events for the whole family. Free admission and open from 10am to 10pm.
Program:
11:00 – 12:00 Guided tour in English of the permanent exhibition Points of View
There is a guided tour in English of the permanent exhibition at the Culture House; Points of View, at 11 am. The exhibition Points of View gives visitors the chance to delve into the collections of six different cultural institutions. Points of view is a unique journey through Iceland's visual legacy, offering an innovative guide to a nation's cultural history.
The exhibition is a collaboration of the National Museum of Iceland, National Gallery of Iceland and the Icelandic Museum of Natural History, the National Archives of Iceland, National and University Library of Iceland, and Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.
15:30 – 16:00 Chocolate Cake Opera: Bon Appettit!
Guja Sandholt, soprano, sings the opera Bon Appétit! By Lee Hoiby in the Reading Room of the Culture House. Guja sings the role of chef and television personality Julia Child, and bakes a cake during the performance in the style of a scene from her television shows. This is light and fun piece to watch and listen to and who knows, maybe guests will have a chance to taste a bite of the cake!
Incidentally, the restaurant in the Culture House is called Julia & Julia (although not named after Julia Child per se) and serves food and cakes based on recipes from Julia Childs time. Guests are encouraged to get acquainted with the menu at Julia & Julia.
Heleen Pauw-Vegter accompanies on grand piano. The performance takes about 20 min.
16:00 – 18:00 Mirror of Society 1770 – theatrical performance
The current special exhibition at the Culture House is the National Archive's display of selected documents pertaining to The Iceland Commission 1770. The Iceland Commission was expected to investigate general conditions in Iceland and submit proposals for improvement. The commission resided in Iceland from spring 1770 to autumn 1771 to gain first-hand experience of all conditions. The commission was instructed to encourage the general public to write about what was on their mind and describe their conditions and opinions. This they did in abundance, making the Iceland Commission's documents an invaluable documentation of life in late 18th century Iceland.
On Culture Night, intermittently between 4 and 6 pm, there is theatrical recital of selected texts from the letters. In Icelandic.
19:00 – 19:45 Jóhanna Elísa & Ingi Bjarni
The siblings, Jóhanna Elísa and Ingi Bjarni, will for the first time perform in a concert together at the Culture House. The program contains songs written by Jóhanna and hers and Ingi's arrangements of Icelandic folk songs. Additionally they will also perform music from various genres, including jazz and pop.
20:00 – 20:30 ReCover - The Dance Academy of Reykjavík
ReCover is a dance installation by Ernesto Camilo who works with dance pieces that the dancers have previously performed on stage and adapts to the exhibition halls of the Culture House.
ReCover is a dance installation where two dance pieces are rearranged. The pieces are Flamingos and Cover, both originally composed for stage. Flamingos draws inspiration from the movement of flamingos, while Cover is a so-called cover-dance, where a classical dance piece is dissected, changed and arranged to new music. Camilo takes the thought a step further and makes a collage that is specially arranged for the Culture House. The audience can walk through the exhibition Points of View and see different fractions of the dance pieces here and there or choose to follow the dancers trough the exhibition halls.
Artistic director: Ernesto Camilo. Dancers: Sixth grade and post-graduate students of The Dance Academy of Reykjavík and guest dancers from FWD Youth Company.
All day events:
Meet with Frodin at the Culture House
The Culture House holds the exhibition Points of View – a journey through the visual world of Iceland. Families with children can find, on their way through the exhibition, places where you can play, touch and explore. These places are Frodin's retreat. Look for Frodin and step inside.Orienteering game - Birds inside and outside
Orienteering game in the National Museum of Iceland and the Culture House with a visit to the Tjörnin pond.In this game the birds inside and outside are explored. Check out the stuffed birds, a bird skeleton, living birds and carved birds. The game is available in the reception of the National Museum and the Culture House.Exhibitions:
Points of View
14th century illumination of the Crucifixion on a vellum page
Mirror of Society 1770