The Narrative Collection was a project initiated by the Swiss artist Chrisoph Büchel, who from 2011-2012 served as Artistic Director of Skaftfell. Over the same two-year period, Skaftfell collected narratives from inhabitants of Seyðisfjörður, in order to capture a kind of snapshot of the community at a particular point in time. The project was carried out in cooperation with the Icelandic Centre for Ethnology and Folklore (ICEF). About 200 narratives were collected, with copies given to the Regional Archives and the Technical Museum of East Iceland for safekeeping.
The project represented a unique opportunity to map the memories of the community, providing a unique record of at a moment in Seyðisfjörður’s history. The Narrative Collection opened as an exhibition in June 17, 2011, and remained on few for 8 months, during which time visitors could watch the narratives recorded on video, new narratives were also added continuously.
About Skaftfell and The Narrative Collection from Skaftfell on Vimeo.