Suddenly, in September 2014, a beautiful opportunity came up,
that the HÖFN association snapped at :
as HÖFN was receiving two Icelandic residents, Linda Vilhjálmsdottir et Mörður Árnason,
an Icelandic family was taking a holiday in Marseille, Magnea B. Valdimarsdottir, Þór Sigursson, and their children María and Elias Logi.
- Magnea shot in 2012 a documentary about a well-known street of Reykjavík,
the first high street of the city actually, that was destined then to be deeply renovated : HVERFISGATA,
- Þór, being a guide in Iceland , has got a solid knowledge regarding his country,
- Mörður, man of letters, but also a politician for 10 years,
combines in his analysises his own independant way of thinking
and the awareness of the confines in choices that one might make for a whole nation or a whole urban area,
- Linda, a poet and writer, has come to a point in her life, and in her -constant- need for writing
that led her to start working on a memory book
(before coming to Marseille, carrying on during her staying at HÖFN, and probably later!)
about her childhood/youth during the Sixties, as Reykjavík was being built up extremely fast, becoming more and more a « real town ».
All of them live in Reykjavík (all of them are born THERE).
HÖFN intended to show Magnea B. Valdimarsdottir ' documentary : Hverfisgata (20 minutes -English subtitles),
and open afterwards a friendly and free discussion based around such questionning as :
- Whid did Magnea WISH to shoot this film to begin with?
- HERITAGE? What is under this word for inhabitants of Reykjavík, or Marseilles ?
- What do we want to defend, protect, revive, create in Marseilles as residents in a specific district, street, or special town area ?
And what about people of Reykjavík ??
- What do we try to do, here in Marseilles, there in Reykjavik to let inhabitants' voices be heared ??
… few questions which would be just a starting point for an exchange of points of view... Seeing where it would lead us !
The HÖFN Association is a small one,
it functions without any State or local subsidy,
and if it has got since 2008 its own residency place,
and a wide and welcoming outdoor terrace that indeed allowed HÖFN to organise there quite a few outside events,
it has not got any inner place to receive a public no more than it owns the required equipment to show a film.
It is only with the support of the association's friends and partners that this little event could be organized, in record time,
and without many possibilities in terms of dates
considering that we had to make the most of the almost miraculous opportunity that gathered at the same moment those 4 Icelanders in Marseille !
We have therefore to thank warmly the Cap 15 owners Caroline Duchâtelet and Peter Sinclair,
who accepted to open this great place for us,
and the artists there who provided some of the furniture and accessories we needed, as well as their help during our setup,
not forgetting François Parra, sound artist, faithful and generous friend and HÖFN partner
who not only brought his own audio and video equipment, but his technical assistance for the whole evening...
AT CAP 15
(from left to right): the screening area, the buffet, the kids' section
At the very moment those photos were taken (around 5 pm that Friday), a sunray enlightened precisely... REYKJAVÍK on the map...
(from left to right): Môrður and Linda get acquainted with the first guests to come; more and more guests; Maria and Magnea could THERE enjoy tranquility with Elias Logi
The HÖFN association prefers, for any event, not to receive too many people, thus creating a rather intimist atmosphere ;
the public, about 35 persons –(not counting 10 or more children, of all ages), was rather eclectic that day :
- the HÖFN board , inevitably,
- some members/friends/regulars of the HÔTEL DU NORD cooperative,
- some partners/ friends of the HÖFN association,
- former residents at HÖFN (Caroline Duchätelet (2009) Frédérique Lagny (2010), Arianna Cecconi (2012) - see: The residents Leave a Trail)
- some persons who had stayed for a more or less long time, more or less often in Iceland
(« tourists », researcher, scientific assistant at the French Ambassy in Iceland in the past...)
and actually an Icelandic woman who had been living in Marseilles for more than two decades...
Very obviously, all those persons had various reasons, desires, and expectations explaining their attending that evening !
As soon as the children arrived, they decided to play outside, or went directly to the "kids'section", not caring anymore for the grown ups' whereabouts...
Screening of the documentary HVERFISGATA
(from left to right): Magnea chats with a student in anthropology after the seceening of her film, Linda and Mörður, who just saw for the first time Magnea's documentary, strike the pose for HÖFN...
A savoured "interval" around a very Icelandic buffet: all-glorious salmon (smoked, marinated with dill, with honey and pepper), smoked truit...
some Icelandic "delicatessen" coming directly from Iceland , thanks to Linda Vilhjàlmsdottir, and her sister Hafdís...
During the French-Icelandic exchange...
The French-Icelandic events that HÖFN has organized until now have happened on Sundays,
thus lasting for half a day, which enabled everybody to make acquaintance with everybody
and allowed us to explore rather thoroughly the chosen topics :
(see: A FRENCH-ICELANDIC ENCOUNTER AT HÖFN... the 29th of May 2011 or TWO TRANSLATORS MET AT HÖFN... the 15th of April 2012
That was not the case on this occasion ;
the time we wanted to devote to our debate of ideas was a bit cut back
because of the parents' duty towards their children (who were becoming by then quite sleepy!)
- Magnea and Þór had to leave around 9.30 pm for instance-
AND the grown ups' tiredness after a week of hard work for some...
We merely had time to touch upon... impelling topics, such as :
- the question of the inter-generational transmission of knowledge and heritage,
a strong desire and need shared by a French, and an Icelandic mother (Magnea),
- the very recent, and faltering Icelanders' feeling of belonging to their Reykjavík city (in 1901 : 6000 people, in 1950 : 50 000, currently about 120 000)
as Marseille's people, who indeed come from all over France, and the world, claim to be before all from Marseille,
- the island status specific to Iceland, its low density of population, its history as a colonised country make Icelanders feel Icelandic before all
rather than belonging to a village, a town, a specific area
(eventhough they would be more attached to the tiny village they were born in than the Capital they would have lived in for 60 years !),
as French people might be more attached to the village, or the city they live in than they are indeed attached to their own country,
- the relation between the shopkeepers and their customers, so different in Reykjavík, and in Marseille :
no « good morning! », « have a good day! » or daily small talk at the bakery in Reykjavík, -the relation is a plain commercial one-,
as an obvious familiarity sets in rapidly in all districts of Marseille between any shopkeeper and 'his' or "her" new customer.
- a significant tourists' inflow during this last decade, mainly during summer time, in the Center of Reykjavík,
which, according to Mörður, brought a salutary activity and life there that did not quite exist before,
as other inhabitants of the Icelandic capital get the feeling that the center of the town does not belong to them any more
since the number of « foreigners » seems to exceed wildly sometimes the number of actual Icelandic and Reykjavík people
as well as the commercial activity seems to meet more the tourists' expectations than the Reykjavík inhabitants' needs...,
- the type of housing and general urbanism in Reykjavík, according to a man from Marseille
(who spent a few weeks in Iceland and was in Reykjavík for a whole week) ,
who mainly noticed an alignement of the houses, placed side by side along the streets of Reykavík,
not quite helpful for meeting and mingling between inhabitants (I could have been in Patagonia!, was his way to put it!),
as Marseille seems to be made of an infinity of little districts, looking like village cores here and there within a big city,
where it is so much easier to create relations and exchange between people...
a point of view that another person (professionnaly and personnaly involved in the cultural and social aspects of Iceland) did not agree with,
pointing out that the relations between neighbours in Reykjavík were mostly and tacitly trustful and friendly,
a cultural fact there, and not an accidental or individual one like it is mostly in French in towns (....)
… We did broach quite a few themes and topics, but a bit at random,
just a glimpse of questions that we probably deplored not to explore deeper, or in a more subtle way...
HÖFN is determined another time, in another form (or other forms)
to compare our leanings, feelings, way of life, cultural characteristics beyond cliches
as Nothern and Southern town people living in Reykjavík (120 000 inhabitants) and Marseilles (more than 800 000)...
For sure, the general atmosphere was right to the end undeniably friendly and joyful … a moment of beautiful mutual curiosity and listening...
The mood was so playful at the very end of the evening that in the kid's section (as the children were long gone and probably fast asleep in their beds!),
two little girls... who had gone to seed some time ago, had a great time playing with Lego and a collection of... SMURFs...