Superbooth just wrapped in Berlin. For the show I designed “Little Reykjavík”, an exhibition space for 5 Icelandic music hardware and software makers. The temporary space was a tribute to Reykjavík record stores and the grassroots electronic music scene.
I recreated the atmosphere of these spaces through walls of real records, Icelandic electronic album artwork, downtown Reykjavík video scenes, risograph gig posters, and a communal listening area. Products from the guys were interconnected through a central mixer for collaborative performances and “silent disco-style” concerts throughout the show.
Check out the last image for a collage that served as a sketch for the space.
Thank you to Love Synthesizers, Genki Instruments, Cycle Instruments, Inorganic Audio and Atomic Analog for the opportunity.
And thanks to my creative collaborators for making this come to life!
Creative Direction and Design: Huldunótur Wall Illustrations: Sullivan Hendrix Poster Designs: Dúa Landmark Video: Vikram Prahdam, Michael Hendrix Production: Love Synthesizers Photography: Jadranko Marjanovic, Josh Wilkinson
Are Charles and Ray Eames in all of my presentations? Maybe. They are the first designers I learned about that understood design as a systemic way of thinking.
Takk Blue Lagoon and @designmarch for having me share about the strategic vale of design yesterday.
The last photo here is an older one. From a visit to the Eames archive in 2019. 🏍️❤️
Last week I hosted a special edition of Two Beats Ahead Live! at Iceland Innovation Week, where I sat down with Paul Hourican. From MTV to YouTube to TikTok, Paul has worked inside each of these platforms, with a front-row seat to the shifts in technology and consumer behavior that shaped them. We discussed how technology follows human behavior, why participation is overtaking passive listening, and how the creator economy is expanding. We also explored AI as a tool, not a replacement for creativity, and why scarcity, nostalgia, and community still matter, maybe even more so in an AI slop era. We’re working on an article based on our conversation and will share soon.
Thanks Iceland Innovation Week for having me back! And thanks to Paul for such a good conversation.
@icelandinnovationweek@twobeatsahead@paulhourican
Just published the newest @twobeatsahead Live! with @dyradottir … You don’t want to miss this one!
Ása is a Reykjavík-based musician and cultural leader working at the intersection of live performance and music policy. As a bass player, she has been a central figure in Iceland’s independent music scene, performing with Mammút and collaborating across a wide network of artists including Rakel, Kaktus Einarsson, Benni Hemm Hemm, Salóme Katrín, and Nanna from Of Monsters and Men. Alongside her work as a musician, she serves as Director of Tónlistarborg, where she works to strengthen the conditions for live music in Reykjavík by connecting artists, venues, policymakers, and industry stakeholders.
In this episode, Ása and I explore what it means to be a “bass player” in both music and civic systems. She reflects on Mammút’s return to the stage at Iceland Airwaves after several years apart, and how the band’s relationship has shifted from ambition to presence, reclaiming the simple act of playing together. She describes their early process of writing without demos or sheet music, relying instead on memory, intuition, and the physical experience of sound, and contrasts that with the more fragmented, individual workflows that came later. Across the conversation, she returns to the idea that true creative work emerges through shared time, friction, and trust.
We also discuss her role at Tónlistarborg, where she operates less as a front-facing leader and more as connective tissue by supporting venues, advocating for policy change, and working to sustain a fragile live music ecosystem. Ása speaks candidly about the erosion of venue infrastructure in Reykjavík, the pressures facing artists and promoters, and the importance of maintaining momentum in the face of structural challenges. Finally, she shares a deeply personal account of using music as a form of connection while caring for her parents during illness, reflecting on the relationship between sound, memory, and the brain, and why music remains one of the most powerful ways we understand and reach one another.
Find this episode on Apple Podcasts and other major streaming platforms.
Happy First Day of Summer! For my friends outside of Iceland, today is a holiday to celebrate the new ⛅️season, of which there are only two: winter and summer. I’m told it is related to the traditional farming calendar. It’s definitely not related to the weather!
Iceland loves its mascots, and my favorites are a little “off”. I’ve often imagined them partying together—look at their eyes and you’ll feel the same. Last year I designed these collages of some of the better known symbols, which are somehow also our friends.
So today is the perfect day for a summer romp outdoors. In the city, in the countryside. Have a good time!
See bassist and Director of Tónlistarborg, Ása Dýradóttir, in conversation with author R. Michael Hendrix at Huldunótur, above Space Odyssey in downtown Reykjavík, on April 15 at 18:00.
Ása Dýradóttir is a Reykjavík-based musician and cultural leader working at the intersection of live performance and music policy. As a bass player, she has been an active contributor to Iceland’s independent music scene, performing with her band, Mammút, and collaborating in live settings with artists including Rakel, Kaktus Einarsson, Benni Hemm Hemm, Salóme Katrin and Nanna. Her work reflects the fluid, cross-project nature of Reykjavík’s music community, where musicians frequently move between bands and collaborations.
Alongside her work as a musician, she serves as Director of Tónlistarborg (Music City Reykjavík), where she focuses on strengthening the conditions for live music in Reykjavík. Her work brings together artists, venues, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to address structural challenges in the ecosystem—from access to performance spaces to the long-term sustainability of the scene.
Ása’s perspective is shaped by her dual role inside and outside the industry: she understands the lived realities of working musicians while also helping to shape the frameworks that support them. Much like her role as a bass player, her approach is grounded in creating stability, continuity, and forward motion—leading by supporting others and setting the conditions for collective performance. In parallel, her ongoing interest in the relationship between music, memory, and the brain, as well as her own visual art practice, extends this sensibility beyond the stage, exploring how sound, image, and perception shape human connection.
Join us for a Two Beats Ahead LIVE! podcast recording exploring Ása’s music and how her practice moves between writing, performance, and shaping the conditions that allow a music scene to function and evolve.
The event is free and open to all.
Happy Hour is a group show with drawings, paintings, collage, fashion, wall hangings and more. After three cozy months in the dark it’s time to share what we’ve made to keep ourselves happy through the winter.
Art by:
Sullivan Hendrix @thebigbluething
Zephyr Hendrix @monstersanddoodles
Ramona Taj Hendrix @sosupermo
Michael Hendrix @rmichaelh
Guðrún Lárusdóttir @gudrunlar
See artist, composer, and producer Úlfur in conversation with author R. Michael Hendrix at Huldunótur, above Space Odyssey in downtown Reykjavík, on March 4 at 18:00.
Úlfur Hansson is an Icelandic composer and multidisciplinary artist whose work bridges contemporary classical composition, experimental electronics, and immersive studio craft. Based between Reykjavík and Brooklyn, he works across solo releases, film scoring, ensemble commissions, and production.
His latest release as one half of the duo, RÓR, is a collaboration with Gyða Valtýsdóttir which unfolds into an expansive, dreamlike sound world where Úlfur’s custom-built synthesizers merge with Gyða’s cello in long-form, elemental compositions.
Collaboration shapes much of his career. As a producer, engineer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, he has worked with Jónsi, Ólöf Arnalds, Anna von Hausswolff, Skúli Sverrisson, and Randall Dunn. His music has been presented at the Tectonics Festival and performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. A piece for an early magnetic harp prototype earned him Composer of the Year at the International Rostrum of Composers.
Úlfur also invented the Segulharpa, an electromagnetic harp with individually actuated strings, featured in Björk’s live production Cornucopia. “It’s clear that an instrument can become so much more than just a sum of its parts,” he says. Further collaborations include instruments for Hildur Guðnadóttir and work with Ólafur Elíasson.
Interviewer, R. Michael Hendrix, is the co-author of Two Beats Ahead: What Musical Minds Teach Us About Innovation, written with Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy. The book examines how artists apply their creative minds broadly beyond their art, and how everyone can learn from them.
The event is free and all are welcome.
Huldunótur is located above Space Odyssey Experimental Music Space, across from Kaffibarinn.
@rmichaelh@ulfur_@spaceodyssey_musicspace
Recent work: abandoned project for an Iceland/Ukraine artist tour. Cancelled because Russia is destroying energy infrastructure and funds need to be redistributed. People are freezing 💔. War is hell. Bless Ukraine. 🇺🇦
Last image in collaboration with @thebigbluething
Go nerd out on Viking and Cossack ship history.
