We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adam Buffington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adam below.
Adam, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I am the co-founder and operator of Mumbling Eye, an archival record label dedicated to issuing Icelandic sound art. Certainly a niche topic! But, it’s one result stemming from my research into the development and evolution of the art & music scene in Iceland.
My connection to Iceland began in fall 2016, during a Master’s exchange with the Iceland University of the Arts in Reykjavik. My introduction to the vibrant scene in Reykjavik coincided with a growing fascination with 1960s/1970s conceptual art, performance art, and absurdist theater. As I soon discovered, these creative strands were also highly influential on the historical development of Reykjavik’s contemporary arts community. This connection immediately became the focus of my doctoral research at The Ohio State University, which I completed in 2020.
The idea behind establishing a label like Mumbling Eye arose during my doctoral research. During that time, I was following several small American and European labels focused on issuing out-of-print and unreleased sound art by experimental artists and composers, oftentimes works dating from the 1950s to the 1990s. I quickly realized how vital these platforms were for promoting greater awareness of artists, and enabling public accessibility to these works. Thus, I wanted Mumbling Eye to function similarly, as a platform for illuminating Icelandic artists’ obscured place within historical artistic developments of the later 20th century.
Icelandic artists, as are many artists from the Nordic region, are often absent within contemporary art and music discussions. Investigating artists from nations like Iceland disrupts these narratives, and injects nuance and complexity into the broader understanding of contemporary art and music. So, I hope Mumbling Eye not only grants greater visibility to Icelandic artists, but also inspires others to start similar initiatives for artists and musicians from other regions of the world!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I founded Mumbling Eye in 2021 with visual artist Tumi Magnússon, as a platform for offering broader public accessibility to Icelandic examples of experimental sound work, which is often virtually unknown to those outside of Iceland (and even within Iceland as well!)
Tumi Magnússon is the son of late 20th-century artist Magnús Pálsson, who explored the intersections between different manners of artmaking throughout his career (sculpture, theatre, video, sound), and played a crucial role in the art scene’s development in Iceland. Pálsson’s work was a primary focus of my doctoral research, and remains so today! In fact, the first two releases on Mumbling Eye have each been a Book & CD publication on 2 Pálsson sound installations: 1995’s Gapassipi and 1993’s Enginn Gleypir Sólina. Each piece, imbued with Pálsson’s signature playfulness and humor, utilize elements from Icelandic everyday life & culture as material for sonic exploration and vocal experimentation.
Thus far, I am most proud of how far Mumbling Eye’s reach has taken this work! Mumbling Eye’s releases have been featured in I Care If You Listen, Medium, Bridge, and Scandinavian Studies, and have been broadcasted by radio programs such as Resonance FM (London, UK), Montez Press Radio (New York City, USA), RÚV (Reykjavik, Iceland), and Helsinki Open Waves (Helsinki, Finland). Furthermore, copies of our releases are being carried by physical and online retailers in Reykjavik, New York City, Pittsburgh, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Milan, Brighton, and Kasai, Japan! I hope we can continue expanding our outreach with future releases.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is cultivating new connections with others, either within or outside of the arts. Throughout my time in Reykjavik, I have encountered so many inspiring and thought-provoking artists, and feel fortunate to have established friendships and collaborations with some of the most daring and forward-thinking people I’ve ever met! It’s such a fundamental aspect of the creative process for me.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
For me, social media has played a vital role in expanding my artistic networks, both within the United States and especially abroad. Rather simply, I began by following artists and musicians who I knew or admired, and researched who they followed or posted about – other artists/musicians, venues, museums, galleries, institutions, publications, labels, etc. It just gradually grew out from there!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mumblingeye.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam_buffington/
- Other: https://mumblingeye.bandcamp.com/
https://adambuffington.bandcamp.com/
Image Credits
Tumi Magnússon
Steinthor Birgisson