WalkingLab and artists from our residency in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland hiked into a valley above the town to a man-made lake. Themes discussed on the walk included scale – micro and macro – and natureculture.
The manmade lake has been dubbed the ‘Magic Lake’ by visitors to the region, when in fact it is a dammed river (dammed for personal use).
The natureculture tension brought on an animated conversation among our party: is the lake less beautiful because it is manmade? Who has the right to dam a river for personal use? What impacts does the dam have on the larger ecosystem? How can something manmade be ‘Magical’? When will humans admit that the world is natureculture: is there such a thing as nature untouched by ‘Man’?