Poetry and short texts by The Icelandic Love Corporation / ljóðrænir textar eftir Gjörningaklúbbinn

ILC: Eirún and Jóní,  2017
Poem for Aqua Maria, a character in ILC´s last part of the Mary’s Trilogy, Baby Shower for Mary at Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö, premiered at the beginning of #Metoo, 2017.
ILC got Ólafur Björn Ólafsson to make a remix of Ave Maria Schubert and Kaldalóns.
The soprano singer Agnes Wästfelt performed as Aqua Maria both in the performance at Lilith and on the ILC vinyl record, The Newest Testament / Nýjasta testament, ed of 30, 2021

Hvalfjörður 8. mars 2017

ÁSTANDIÐ

Kvenlíkaminn, vígvöllur, þar sem barist er um yfirráðar- og sjálfsákvörðunarétt.
Ástandskonur fyrri tíma.
Druslur dagsins í dag.
Hetjur sem eiga sig sjálfar.
Þær senda baráttukveðjur úr öllum víddum.

Á 44 mínútna fresti deyr kona í Rússlandi vegna heimilsofbeldis.
Vikulega deyja 5 konur í Sambíu vegna heimilisofbeldis.
Á 15 sekúndna fresti er konu misþyrmt í Bandaríkjunum vegna heimilisofbeldis.
Daglega eru 5 konur á Íslandi beittar heimilisofbeldi.
Önnur tölfræði, önnur lönd, sama sagan.
Án gerenda er ekkert ofbeldi.
Blóðugasta stríði mannkynssögunnar er ekki lokið.
Stöndum saman, öll sem ein, öll sem eitt.

Með kveðju úr fortíð, nútíð og framtíð.

Maddömur  Sálnasafnsins.

Gjörningaklúbburinn: Eirún og Jóní
Text in Icelandic written for a publication in connection with the Slut-Walk / Druslugönguna in Iceland

Invisible Energy

An elderly and distinguished man, sporting grey hair and a tailored suit, sits in a chair. His skin is nylon-like, thin and multi-layered, the suit too – though it’s darker in colour. The man’s name is Amos, we spent long hours with him, crafting him from canvas, wire, and nylon stockings.  

We never met the real Amos Anderson but our mutual love of art connects us through space and time. This mysterious phenomenon, art, can have momentous consequences, like sunlight concentrated through a magnifying glass. Art is like wildfire, art is a magnet. It was in Helsinki, Amos’ city, at ARS’95 – a Nordic art student programme, that we, who later formed The Icelandic Love Corporation, started reinforcing the bond between us. Therefore, we see Helsinki as the place of ILC’s conception.

Conception is a magnificent, physical miracle where another invisible energy, love, often plays a part. When we exhibited in Amos’ museum we had to address this miracle, the beginnings of life, the tiniest Big Bang. Amos had no children and he didn’t have the required kit to have the miracle of life grow inside of him. Yet, within his museum the consequences of countless such miracles can be explored, worked on, and enjoyed.

We invited groups of teenagers to come into the museum and learn about our work and ideas, while they simultaneously formed a new society within the project room of the museum, where each group of teens took over from the previous, continuously building on to where the previous group left off, changing and/or adding to it. Everything was made of nylon, an industrial imitation of the silk produced by silkworms, woven into tights and stockings. This material tightly hugs the buttocks, thighs and feet of women – and sometimes men – as they slide the lower half of their bodies into this thin, cultural web. During adolescence the relationship with this material often becomes more intimate and sexualized. This was reflected in random giggling and self-consciousness of the participants, some of whom where handling nylon tights for the first time like forbidden fruit, also in the knowing smile of the museum’s senior curator who was more experienced and familiar with this world, and in the practiced movements of some of the girls who had already started wearing this adventurous creative product of the human spirit. Towards the end the teenagers’ collaboration space was full of taut nylon stockings, fastened with hooks to the walls, floor, and ceiling, evoking sexual energy and expressing the joy of creation.

The outcome was the spark that ignited our idea of a space “painted” with nylon tights, a sort of 3-D Pollock. The idea evolved and later became a part of the performance Think Less – Feel More in the Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö, one conception leads to another and another and another.

Love conquers all!

With much gratitude for brilliant cooperation in preparing and installing the solo exhibition TIGHT and the performance POWER, in and with the Amos Anderson Museum in Helsinki in 2010, good memories and friendship,

ILC: Eirún, Jóní, and Sigrún, 2015

Text written for Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland, 50th anniversary

Cardiac Circus poetry:

- for Cardiac Circus - cat. i8 gallery, for the Art Statements, Basel Art Fair.

THE RIDDLE OF THE RAVEN

Black feathers glow.
A puddle of oil revealing colorshow

What ‘s the news?
Where have you been?
Tell us what you’ve seen.

On the rim, the edge
Is life ready for death?

Power in hand, curing, destroying
Salvation for the doer

The guardian of life has spoken
Leaving many hearts broken.

In the beginning is the end
In happiness, sorrow
In life, death.

In madness, reason.
In circus,truth.


A FAMILY OG WEAPONS

We stand in the natural torture cell,
Nature in disguise as a horizontal Iron Maiden.
Strangling curiosity grabs hold of us. 
Scratch us gently, curiosity chemical.
This is my wet hole, cavity, fissure,
crack, perforation, cavity.

Knives of frozen water feel the body temperature.
A family of weapons is hanging in fury from the soil.


SURGERY FOR ECSTASY

A surgical entry into a treasure chest should be taken on with frantic preciseness.
I love my treasure therefore I’d like to take a look.
My anger is allowed. The hair is rising. The blade is turned on.

Afterwards the concrete will absorb you and you will slowly start to decorate the dead mineral, cold poison.
In one hundred years, you will become a nation of billions.
With an undetermined color and approx. 1 mm big.
You cannot speak and you will never go anywhere.


THE EGGS

Cook the babies in the natural pot.
Get them from their mothers.
They live in places that are hard to reach.
They live on dirty sills, high above the rocky shore.
A rope might come in handy if you are not afraid of heights.
Again, the price of slipping is death.

This house is full of food. But you will never find the door.


TIGER

In the core lives the heat.  And the problems sleep there too.
If you poke to hard it all jumps out like an infuriated tiger that has forgotten the cause of its anger.
You can never make it go back, it will not listen. It doesn’t understand the language you know.

Nr. 1

In the magic mountain
The ruthless anger
Tries to take control

How can the good
Thrive in black conditions?
Cold steel of insanity

Ladies of good nature
This is your task

The future is in you
The mixture is in you
Eggs, wine and good will

Hunt the evil
Hunt the master
Hunt for your life

Try this at home
Use help of birds
Use help of other mankind
Use help of each other

Nr. 2

The wolf has killed
The ladies are dead
Anger has taken good away

Sadness blows with the cold wind
Nothing is human no more

The spell has been broken
By the animal of darkness

This is no fairytale

Hundreds years have passed
Now the time has come

Will there be a new song?

A song of crystal and wine
A song of therapy
A song for humans

Children will be born


Nr. 3

Life is a spirit of many things
Many are sad

For sadness there is no cure
Except in the fantasy

They who are not good
They are sad
They dream of breaking
Breaking hearts of the good

Power is their cure
Power is their sadness
Power is their fantasy

Friends of evil will not share
The life of beautiful things
Like nature and picnic
Like storm and whisky
And many more things

Is this possible in reality?

ILC: Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2004

SYMPATHY

It is hairy on the fingertips
It is hairy in the palms.
It has white eyeballs,
that shine with the trust,
of everlasting knowledge,
of nature.
- - -
None of you are special.
Fear is the drive.
Friendship is discipline.
Darkness is innocent.

Shake hands with your inner fear
Shake hands with your fantasy. 

ILC: Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2003

WIVES

Pluses and minuses make an equation that is ever expanding.
Side by side, the trees form the woods. 
The woods are filled with wives. They originate from different seeds, some are without roots, some are ironic or funny or strong or gentle or divine... an endless list. 
They have collected the leaves of different experience, into their common roof. 
Shake off the leaves, collect them again, mix them well and fish out new ideas. Give them a new appearance. 
The wives stick together and that makes them strong. Nobody knows who got the idea, originally, or who owns which foot when they all share one bed. 
True nature is strong. 
The animals in the woods smell each other. They smell enemies and they smell friends, hunters and prey. The hunters are strong and they smell blood. They will show no mercy. 
The wives have smelled a scent that no one else can smell. 
They gather and go on a trip to a place that doesnít exist. On their journey they communicate and their destination forms.

ILC: Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2002

Henry VIII's Wives are a collective of artists founded in 1997, and include Rachel Dagnall, Bob Grieve, Sirko Knupfer, Simon Polli, Per Sander and Lucy Skaer. They are based variously in Scotland, Denmark, Norway and Germany, and are all graduates of the Environmental Art Department at Glasgow School of Art.
In the year 2001, ILC had a recidency in Glasgow where they got to know Henry VIII's Wives and later wrote this text for their book, published to coincide with the exhibition “ Light Without Shadow” at Tramway, Glasgow, 2002

RENDEZ-VOUS

Frosty night,
starry sky. 
The machinery arrives.
The tiny humans inside it.

Shadows and fear 
of a neverending winter.
Burn in the heat of love. 

ILC: Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2002

Where Do We Go From Here?

The soul is pure and proud,
in our house of safety.
There is never an angry cloud,
still outside there is plenty.

Curiosity drove us from our happy nest.
Looking for a new dimension.
We hoped for all the best,
in the land of beauty and tension.

The cliffs are high and scary
The bodies are small and vary
The face of the sky is eerie
This is misery.

We ask the whale! Help!
We ask the wind! Help!
We ask the waves! Help!
We ask the world! Help!

Never reason with nature.

They have received a strange message.
Their radio has told them a tale.
They go gladly on this passage.
They believe this whale.

Seeing that beauty is dying
Braveness fills their hearts and limbs
Their senses feel the crying
Searching the edges and rims

In the soft embrace of nature
The dog gives the kiss of life
Where do we go from here?
We are dressed for eternity.

ILC: Dóra, Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2001

Blow Job

The Magical Defrosting of a Marvelous Treasure

On top 
of this long legged table
is a thick frozen iceblock.

The sound of steel heels
touching shiny marble floors
is echoing
through the skincolored rooms. 

You will enjoy this Blow Job
with your eyes, ears, nose and all.
It will be a joy job.

Still, it will
take an effort, and
approximately 25 minutes.

The wonderful warm heated wind
will help. 

Our shoes are good
for breaking the ice.
The rubber gloves and safety glasses
are necessery and nice.

If somebody gets tired
or maybe dreamy or unpatient.
The luxurious wine and berries
will always love you.

All this 

will make us and It free.
It is what's inside that matters.
We will reveal 
the unifying symbol. 

Thank you everybody.

Thank you pioneers.

ILC: Dóra, Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 2001

Poetry for N-Paradoxa, international feminist art journal, vol. 7, London, 2001

Higher Beings 

We are all higher beings
We are situated in an adventure where everything is real.
Do you feel bad? You can change that.
Are you sour? You can be sweet.
Are you happy? You can be even happier.........

- - -

Here we have four hearts.
Place yourselves on their outlines.
We will give you the stars.
Fill this thin line with hope and power.

Higher Beings will bring you the light.
Give each other the light.
You are beautiful.
This is a wishing moment.
We are joined in the power of a wish.
Close your eyes and wish.

ILC: Dóra, Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 1999

Freedom - Beauty - Freetime

Feelings!
To have a tent, is that freedom to travel?
Is a big lipstick better than a small lipstick?
What is big and what is small?
What is good and what is bad?
Is it necessery to wonder about this all the time?
When wil the mayonnaise turn yellow?

ILC: Dóra, Eirún, Jóní and Sigrún, 1997