UPCOMING SHOWS :
Current : Art workshop / Port Mathurin, RODRIGUES ISLAND
Upcoming: April 2024 - ZDB, Lisbon, PORTUGAL
June 2024 - The Reykjavík Arts Festival, ICELAND
from 20 November : MAURITIUS / PaARTage, International exhibition
from 7 December : SRI LANKA / Festival, Residency, Workshop
BOOK LAUNCH Book tour :::: GERMANY 5.12. 2019 Hamburg/ Dorothea Schlueter Galerie *** ICELAND 23.1. 2020 Seyðisfjörður / old cinema Herðubreið *** 8. 2. 2020 Reykjavík/ Marshall house, Kling & Bang gallery *** 21.2. 2020 Höfn/ Menningarmiðstöð Hornafjarðar *** 17.6. 2020 Sláturhúsið //Egilsstaðir *** PORTUGAL from October 2020 ALJEZUR - LISBON - PORTO - Gafanha da Nazaré *** 3.10.2020 Listasafnið / Art Museum AKUREYRI
artist book by Monika Fryčová
limited edition of 300 copies
Hardcover cover binding, 28 x 17
640 pages, including map
December 2019
ISBN - 979-9935-24-578-6
Brotherhood publishing house.
Seyðisfjörður. Iceland
copyright © 2020 Monika Fryčová
Printed in Czech Republic, Tiskárna Helbich, a.s, Brno
This publication was supported
by East Iceland Development Fund
Graphic Design: Jan Žalio
Illustrations: Monika Fryčová, Jan Žalio
Language, editing: Ryan O’Rourke, Monika Fryčová
Soft cover handmade silk screen print Antl studio
BOOK ON SALE at Kling & Bang gallery Marshall house
Pennin Eymundsson
Bóksala stúdenta
Bókabúd Máls og Menningar
12 tónar
Reykjavík, Iceland
:::: teaser by Sebastian Reuss, Dorothea Schluter galerie, Hamburg
WARNING! Do not try this at home or abroad:
The following book features a journey performed by a professional artist (as stated by the Icelandic customs, s.p. 68)
under the supervision of professionals (pagan gods).
Or how should an introduction to the book by Monika Fryčová be given? This book should come with
advice aimed particularly at those that think of travelling as an all inclusive booking package, featuring flight,
hotel and full pension at a beach resort somewhere in a vacation paradise: always the same, always exactly
what you expect, just stay in your lifelong doze.
Already the prologue with the dedication on page 3 is an ironic joke in parts. You might not doubt the two
individuals mentioned as being close friends of the author, but to find a dedication to AirBnB — seen as the
embodiment of an evil travel industry eroding whole cities and cultures — reads like a macabre joke in the
context of Fryčová’s travelling practice, which is an anachronistic anarchic adventure falling out of time, a
one on one encounter with strangers and places as she drives through Europe. To complete the statement
the reader finds a direct comment on the following page, with: ”My Apologies, I’m breaking all the rules on
my first Round”. Thus the mindset for both travel and writing is stated: no rules apply to her, she will break
them all.
That’s why no travel literature a la Huxley or Kerouac and whoever followed will
stick to her as a stereotype revelling in nostalgia. Even if all character traces
describing the clientel of alternative travel guides — those guides addressing a
certain kind of backpacking individual claiming to not follow plans, to not be tied to
time, to never think about driving home, to not shy away from inconveniences, to be
fluent in the local languages and to a striving for immersion in the foreign culture—
apply to Fryčová, she still has a plan. Because the back cover of the book reads:
In 2013 Monika Fryčová drove by Scooter from Iceland to Portugal and then back
again. She brought Icelandic bacalhau to Portugal and took Portugese Batata-Doce
back to Iceland.
As Sigurbergur is asked early on in the book, which by the way weighs as heavy as a
rock, if it would be possible to go on such a journey by Scooter, he replies: “Maybe,
it’s okay, you are artist, you can make everything.” Although, adding a relatively
realistic expectation to it: “Only you go very slow and maybe… you come after very
looooong time.”
To prepare for the journey the vehicle, its raider plus the fish get blessed by the
northern gods in a pagan ritual and Frčová receives a document by the Icelandic
customs to legally transport a pack of dried cod.
The rest is an astonishing journey on a small overloaded vehicle, described in a poetic
diary with hundreds of images and documents plus a fold out roadmap of over 600
Pages.
So don’t forget your travel insurance and buy the Book!