Hey
look!
WHAT’S GOING ON OVER HERE?
Hannelore the Mermaid.
Madame Karitas.
The dandy poet Friðrik Peterson.
Songstress Bibi Bioux.
Ulfur Fenrir Loasson.
The Poetry Brothel is a unique immersive performance experience, poetry event and cabaret with its origins in New York. Join “The Poetry Brothel Reykjavík” for an immersive poetry event that includes live jazz, burlesque acts from Reykjavík Kabarett, tarot card readings and portraits by an “artist in residence.” Poetry whores will attend to every guest’s poetry needs and are available to be purchased for private, one-on-one readings in secluded rooms. “Rauða skáldahúsið came about by fortunate happenstance. Throughout my life, I’d received training in various trades, and acquired some languages through
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travel and necessity. I found myself eventually Iceland-bound on a ship that wound up taking me to a fjord that has no light in winter, where I built a house to live and create in,” says Hannelore Hafmeyja (mermaid), the Madame of Poets. “As the months went by, dancers, troubadours, poets and witches came into my home—some Icelandic, some from other lands, like myself. I gave them haven and hearth, and books to nourish the mind. One of the travelers, Karitas, suggested that we allow all travelers to come to my home and buy the artwork of the poets and dancers. What a better way for a poet to make a buck? Revelry is popular among artists, so it was natural for us to become a bordello, to sell our wares—the stuff of dreams—and to drink with our guests while we did it,” Hannelore continues, stating that their mantra is Baudelaire’s “Be drunk, be continually drunk—on wine, poetry, or virtue, as you wish.”
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE POETRY BROTHEL? According to Hannelore, one can never know what will happen at the poetry brothel. “Our artists express their feelings freely and impulsively,” she says. For those who don’t wish to purchase a poet, the house is filled with dancers, body painters and portraitists. “The evening is entirely about joy, immersion and breaking the fourth wall.” The next edition of the Poetry Brothel in Reykjavik will be a masquerade ball. “We invite guests to bring their own masks, but will also have them for sale at the house. We hope that newcomers will immerse themselves in the live performance. The mask allows you to hide, making it easier to become someone else who revels along with us,” says Hannelore. The Madame of the Evening—Madame Karitas—is there to guide the audience through the night. She also makes sure that the poets are working and that the dancers aren’t lingering too long at the bar. “She also helps customers to find the poet who is most right for them to spend time alone with, introducing each member of the house in their turn,” informs Hannelore. If you’re open to new experiences, or, perhaps more importantly, looking for new experiences, a night out at the Poetry Brothel may be just what you need. “Our clients are those who are seeking to satisfy their desires, and who wish to forget themselves for an evening filled with poetry, music, dancing, and art,” Hannelore concludes.
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Having attended the Poetry Brothel’s first event, we at WOW magazine can’t wait for this special evening and will certainly recommend it to anyone ready and willing to step out of the box. Information about tickets will be available in mid-October on the facebook page (facebook.com/raudaskaldahusid) and on What’s On Reykjavik/Visit Reykjavik. Tickets will go on-sale mid-October through midi.is.