Excursion to Iceland

Sunday, 13/06/10
23:40: Arrival
24.00: Pick up to Nature reserve Landmannalaugar

Monday, 14/06/10
05:00: Arrive in Landmannalaugar
– Day hikes from Landmannalaugar framed with rhyolite mountains, obsidian lavafield, hot springs and a warm river to take a bath in
– Cook dinner together
– Overnight in the hut

Tuesday, 15/06/10
– Start in Landmannalauger – hike up to Hrafntinnusker
– Cook dinner together
– Overnight in the hut

Wednesday, 16/06/10
– Explore one of the hottest geothermal area in the world
– Cook dinner together
– Overnight in hut in Hvanngil

Thursday, 17/06/10
– Drive to the airport, return to Berlin

Excursion organizers: Olafur Eliasson, Eric Ellingsen and Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir

‘On the second day of walking, we let the topography, the rolling hills and mountains, guide us as we embarked on a journey without a trail. Distance had to be estimated and negotiated. Navigation became a concern. We set out in the morning across the obsidian fields called Hrafntinnusker, west of the volcano Hekla. The black volcanic glass reflected our bodies, movement, and the sky like mirrors scattered all over the ground. It generated a sense of fragility in us when we walked, causing every little step to be tentative rather than confident. To walk is to produce an instant future. Here the future was rich with uncertainty. As we walked through the fields of shiny surfaces, the obsidian deflected our gaze from what lay ahead, constructing a sense of the space we had just left behind. Like a rear-view mirror, the black stones gave a ‘then’ to our ‘now’ and ‘soon’. Time was given space. Immediate futures were produced through fragmented images of the past.’

From Rear view time, written by Olafur after a two-day hike in Iceland with his then students from the Institut für Raumexperimente