25 May 2006

signs of mystery

Recently I have noticed a series of signs along the road that look like traffic signs in shape and simple design, but are very non-traffic themed images. The first one I saw is a bright blue one near the domestic airport, showing the silhouette of a man holding a child above his head. There's also one in the center of the hringtorg (that's rotary for all you Mass residents) near my house, and I risked life and limb crossing the double lanes of traffic to take a dim photo of it earlier this evening. Must go back when the wind is not trying to lift me into the nearby Nóatún parking lot and the sky is not so dark and stormy.

I spotted a third sign last week down near the harbor walk that faces toward Esja. Again bright blue, the sign shows just the familiar outline of the mountain beyond. I love projects like this. I love public art when it's installed to be a treasure hunt like this, and makes me look more closely at my everyday surroundings. There has been plenty of art here lately thanks to the annual Listahátíð (art festival) going on right now, but these signs were around long before it started last week. Whatever the reason, I hope I find more of them.

Ship sighting: As promised on the schedule, the first cruise ship of the season arrived this afternoon, and is docked near the flour mill I wrote about in January. It's not the most exciting location to be docked in Reykjavik, down amid the flour towers, the Eimskip warehouses, and the customs office. Still it is lovely here now, as you can see for yourself in these recent installments of the daily Akrafjall photo project.

1 comment:

tsduff said...

Glad you risked all but survived to get that photo - I wish I had one of my own :-) I can't imagine what it is trying to inform everyone of though...