Þórsteinn Svanhildarson

Container Society gives the audience an insight into a world of two men, both living in shipping containers on the gravel lot by the big oil tanks at Grandi, Reykjavík.Óli and Gummi are middle aged Icelandic men and are living in separate containers. Both of them have families, children and one of them even has grandchildren. However, their addiction to drugs has robbed them of everything. The containers were placed behind large industrial buildings so that the public wouldn’t be aware of them.
‍
Thousands of people make their way to this area in Reykjavík daily, but few of them are aware of the container’s existence.
‍
They welcomed me from day one. I quickly gained their approval. My goal is to show you how life in the shipping containers is. This is Container Society part 1.

‘’The title Juvenile Bliss is a reference to the state of mind that is dominant during those years, when life seems without restrictions and the world an abundance of opportunities.’’
‍
Art is oftentimes said to be a reflection of the society from which it emerges. The murals of ancient hunter-gatherer societies evoke ideas of what their biggest fears and victories may have been. Portraits of medieval nobility bring forth images of abundance in primitive Europe. Stories of heroes, romances and horror throughout the ages place us in foreign and familiar settings, reliving experiences classic and new.
‍
What of those societal groups that are without a voice? What if their loudest representation is one of condemnation and lack of understanding, that doesn't delve beneath the surface, appreciate their reality, their hopes and their fears? Are these groups fairly represented in history or is their beauty lost in the shallow portrayal of their harsh exterior? That is unequivocally not the case. There have been too many artists whose roots have sprung from these fringe groups. For many, the truth that is inherently on the edge of society is the one with most beauty and honesty. The only kind of truth that is able to exist within such a raw existence. A truth that is so self-evident that it must be broadcasted.Within the turmoil of being an outsider, out of sync with the harmony of the norm, there can be emotional overtones of fear, loss and disdain, and equally a feeling of freedom, reward and love. It is in life's nature that these emotions not detract from each other in the least. A fear of society's rules can give a sense of liberation when broken. An anger from being outcast is rewarded by a closeness from others on the fringe. An aversion to what is considered normal, becomes an attraction to the abnormal.
‍
Artists express the truth they are faced with. They convey it in words, images, sounds and play, but first and foremost with feeling. Taking the ambiguous, the revolting and the enthralling and conveying those emotions is the artist's primary virtue. Artists are societies’ soothsayers, they interpret that which is intangible, thereby illuminating that which lies in shadows.