Iceland's government left the premises yesterday. Hard to even contemplate. Missmarketcrash had a few drinks with Iceland last October at the Frieze Art Fair in London. The Artists Collective known as Kling and Bang had taken a long-loved bar which was slated for demolition due to development and reconstructed it in the middle of the art fair in Regent's Park. The outside seeped nostalgia and a slight whiff of comedic sadness. Upon opening the door, Missmc was whisked off to Iceland with immediate effect. A beer was poured by a delicious looking Icelandic boy with a swarthy voice that boomed across the bar. Another beer was poured into the same glass. Then another. All three beers cascaded down the sides of the glass and formed an amazing lake atop the bar. Two girls at the bar laughed. People were singing. An infectious sense of the ridiculous descended. The price of the beer was negotiable and rendered meaningless. We drank and caroused. A film was shown that had a you-had-to-be-there nostalgia that was easy to love none-the-less. I felt like I had lived seven lives inside the bar by the time I left.
Out to the hushed art fair tent I returned. The light was a harsh snowy white that chilled through me and I felt a bit mute to the art I was there to look at and love. Iceland had just gone bankrupt a few days before the fair and the irony of the Sirkus Bar wedged itself in. The camaraderie of inside the bar was in stark juxtaposition to the posturing of the dealers and collectors wandering around the Frieze tent. I did not want to look at art anymore, I wanted to go back to Sirkus.
And so today my heart goes out to Iceland. I am certain all will be set right - they have such a fine group of citizens with most excellent social skills. If they can come up with a Tom Selleck Moustache Competition they certainly have the wherewithal to achieve anything...
Skal.
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