As explained in p. 45 of the catalogue of the Points of View exhibition of Reykjavík’s Culture House (edited by the National Museum of Iceland), “When examining the visual cultural heritage of Iceland it seems the age does not matter; it always contains different versions of the same type of imagery”. The section “again & again” of Points of View focuses on the timeless repetition of patterns like the bine, interlaces (so prominent in the nordic and northatlantic cultures as many of you can easily recall), loops, knots…:”This pattern [the bine] had such a tenacious hold in Iceland that for a period of time a variety of it was referred to as the ‘Icelandic style'”.
Yes, there is the line, here in Iceland infinitely expresssed through the centuries as an uninterrupted, seemingly infinite series of loops and interlaces. The line as the cultural link that joins all the past, present and future members of a cultural group around an endlessly shared pattern of worldviews.
And also the line joining them, through the vehicle of the written word, under the still wider umbrella of the ampler cultural realm to which those people are also, more remotely but still strongly enough, linked.
It seems to me that the cohesive force of the line is self-evident too in the productions of the street artists of today’s Reykjavík (and perhaps occassionaly foreign contributors to the same). Put them together, old and new, and the link of culture throug the line is inescapably and intriguingly noticeable…
Do you see continuity?
