Manhattan of the North
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Siglufjörður, a small town in the northern part of Iceland grew from a few hundred inhabitants to ten thousand in a few decades. The reason being, herring. Inhabitants looked to Manhattan for inspiration for their ever growing town. The grid like street pattern was adopted to keep an open ended street plan for the up and coming city in the north.
Due to overfishing and changing currents the herring disappeared and the town came to a standstill. The grid like streets remained and became the inspiration for the project Manhattan of the north.The installation aimes to merge two worlds together, Siglufjörður and Manhattan by placing a scyscraper in the middle of the town.
The way we wanted to convey the idea was through the simplest means possible.
2014
First the ground floor plan of the Chrysler building in the right proportions was painted on an unused grassy field in the middle of the town.
Two viewing portals where then built and set up in different locations giving different views of the building rising up from the ground floor plan. The pieces were then left for the inhabitants to interpret and put together themselves.
Collaboration: Jóhann Þorvaldur Bergþórsson, Mads Hvidkjær Binderup, Karólína Baldvinsdóttir
Two viewing portals where then built and set up in different locations giving different views of the building rising up from the ground floor plan. The pieces were then left for the inhabitants to interpret and put together themselves.
Collaboration: Jóhann Þorvaldur Bergþórsson, Mads Hvidkjær Binderup, Karólína Baldvinsdóttir
