Ólafsfjörður
A vinyl EP written and recorded in Iceland’s cold north
Situated just half a degree south of the Arctic Circle, the low peaks of this fjord are high enough to prevent the sun from rising all winter. A small town of just 800 residents exists there, thriving on the shell of an extinct fishing industry.
Passepartout Duo, Yannis Zhang, and Yumo Wu worked for nine weeks together in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland. The resulting album is informed by this special place in time, acting as both an encapsulation of their experiences in Iceland, and a requiem for the fishing industry in the North.
A collaboration between two musicians and two visual artists, the end result is an album containing four original tracks alongside cyanotype prints, inspired by this small fishing town during winter.
Produced in Beijing by AnyOne, Yannis Zhang and Yumo Wu’s arts organization, the 10” vinyl record features cyanotype prints inspired by Ólafsfjörður’s undersea inhabitants.
The work came to fruition during the four artists’ stay at Listhús residency. There, Yumo Wu created a “cyanotype diary” that used natural materials to measure the waning sunlight as the solstice approached. Taking the medium into this collaboration, Yumo created a series of five prints through fish X-rays.
Ólafsfjörður was written and recorded by Passepartout Duo (Nicoletta Favari & Christopher Salvito) in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland and Altbüron, Switzerland at Listhús and Bau 4.
The x-rays used in Yumo’s artworks were given courtesy of the Vancouver Aquarium. The album was produced by AnyOne in Beijing, China.
Released December 21, 2018
Physical albums available at these stores in Asia and Europe.
Exhibition in Porto, Portugal:
In August 2021, Passepartout Duo and AnyOne had a chance to revisit this work as part of an exhibition at Livraria Térmita in Porto, Portugal. Alongside Yumo’s original cyanotypes, sets of photos from the four’s travels in Iceland were displayed. In addition, vinyl cutouts were fixed to the wall that highlight text as seen in the images, mainly remnants from the local fishing industry. These foreign words would be mundane to locals, but showcase the way in which typographic elements can take on their own life when stripped of their purpose and meaning. The show was titled We All Come From Somewhere Else to recognize this way in which strangers’ eyes see places that are familiar to someone else.
Photo credits: Pedro Veiga (1,2,3,4) and Johanna Dembinski (5,6)
