Paper short abstract:

Reykjavik Harbor is a hybrid and changing place, with layers of cultural manifestations deriving from different user groups. Perspectives on the role of the harbor reveal systems of exclusion; different practices in turn transgress boundaries changing the material configuration of spaces.

Paper long abstract:

Reykjavik Harbor is a complex hybrid material reality, constantly changing with new practices and conditions. With ships and boats, landfills, piers, slipways, combined with weather and sea conditions, comes fishing, tourists, commerce, entertainment and innovation. This reality is being reshaped by various forces, man-made and natural, and different groups of actors, ranging from the contractor working on a 2,000 square metre apartment building on the pier, to the algae that slowly cover its base. In particular, in the past 20 years there has been a marked change in how the harbor is conceived; with growth in the sectors of construction, commerce and tourism, prompting defensive reactions from other user groups and those to whom the harbor is important as a place of memory. In this talk I will describe the material reality of Reykjavík Harbor using Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of agencement, or assemblage, and look at the shifting meaning of what is “harborly”, i.e. what is immediately perceived as belonging in the harbor; how this creates physical and conceptual boundaries defended by certain users, and how transgressing these boundaries changes their configuration. I examine the ways in which reactions to development reveal systems of inclusion/exclusion, especially with regard to gendered harbor spaces and roles, and human vs. non-human use of these spaces. I want to describe how these changes manifest themselves in the material arrangement of the harbor.