<TITLE: Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 1: From Knowhow to Snowhow - Reflections on the Jukkasjärvi Icehotel
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: humanities
DISCIPLINE: cultural studies
EVENT TYPE: conference presentation
FILE ID: CPRE01C
NOTES: continued in CDIS01C, session also includes presentations CPRE01A-B (CDIS01A-B and CDIS01D are part of the same conference)

RECORDING DURATION: 18 min 17 sec

RECORDING DATE: 1.7.2002

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 29

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 1

S3: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Finnish; ACADEMIC ROLE: unknown; GENDER: male; AGE: 31-50>


<S3> <START MISSING> (xx) that is a couple of hundred of kilometres <COUGH> north of the arctic er circle in north- northern sweden and the images which i would like to start with er are not the green er flourishing er <COUGH> summer lands they expect we to see but really (xx) images , er , let's see . <COUGH> these come er . these come <COUGH> from a hotel er constructed out of ice the ice has been taken out of the torne river <COUGH> a major river up in northern part of sweden er first ever a kind of igloo-like er constructions <COUGH> er this project is some 12 years old now er <COUGH> the original igloo er was there er in order to display an art exhibition <COUGH> and er <COUGH> then some some people from the southern sweden wanted to visit the art exhibition the question came out where sh- where could they stay and local organisers came across the idea that okay we have an igloo why not to stay overnight there and er by this discovery that you can actually have people stay overnight in these igloos er <COUGH> they developed this into a touristic thing and now they have a huge kind of ice palace <COUGH> several igloos er you can rent a room <COUGH> you can sleep on a on on a block of ice you're given a reindeer hide and and and and a sleeping bag and so forth the temperature in the room is is minus five and er that's a blooming business <COUGH> er last winter some 15,000 persons went to the jukkasjärvi icehotel and stayed overnight er there was some 40,000 visitors daytime <COUGH> er without staying er overnight and the figures seem seem to be growing this is what i would like to analyse and and and er er report about <COUGH> er how do people come across these kind of images or are they a kind of export er <COUGH> from the south er like the santa claus er er christmas park er which <NAME> also mentioned in roma- rovaniemi which is designed by british people not not the locals and it's clearly a kind of local disneyland er which er <COUGH> which has very little to do with the with the local sur- surroundings except that er , that er , <COUGH> that er <COUGH> it's located er nearby rovaniemi this is a picture of one of the igloos where you can sleep overnight this is a block of ice and then you have reindeer hides and and there you can comfortably <COUGH> sleep overnight as as as the as the people in the business er claimed er <COUGH> the background to the to the icehotel is different in the sense it's not it's clearly a dreamscape i mean er constructing very visual very artistic very ae- ae- ae- <COUGH> aesthetic images er but they are mainly locally produced they are not so to say export from the south they are not there in order to correspond to images which which er <COUGH> the people of jukkasjärvi knew already on beforehand would sell terribly well er er in i- we- <COUGH> er in in the southern latitudes er they have been experimenting a gradually created this this kind of of of business what they are trying to do is not to argue that this is something authentic something local er ancient roots and so forth already the igloo is a sign of that that it's a kind of playing with signs i mean in in in northern part of sweden you don't have igloos you have tepees er <COUGH> er of the sami people these are not tepees the- the- these are imitations of er some greenlandic er <COUGH> type of er construction culture and er <COUGH> er gradually they have so to say learned how t- how to do it there is a very strong commercial side to it there are corp- corporations attached to them and and and backing <COUGH> the the er endeavour . i don't seem to have er , any image which er <COUGH> which would give the give the vodka bottle <COUGH> namely the story is that er er first they constructed an ice bar <COUGH> which is again a kind of palace type type of er construction it's a bar er you drink er spirits liquor <COUGH> in a glass made made made of made of ice and if you want to have have ice on your whisky you take a hammer and knock the ice table and put put ice into into your glass er <COUGH> the the management er so to say got the idea that this this could sell pretty well and should be selling pretty well so on the ice table they put a bottle of <FOREIGN> absolut </FOREIGN> er swedish vodka and then they saw to it that these images pictures were widely so to say published in the press and it happened er <COUGH> as they were planning that the swedish vodka er bosses saw the image and thought that this is a nice image this this we have to buy into so now swedish <FOREIGN> absolut vodka </FOREIGN> is one of the main sponsors <COUGH> of this er icehotel and and one one of the gates for example at the hotel has the has the shape er of a huge <FOREIGN> absolut vodka vodka </FOREIGN> bottle <COUGH> so a- and and <FOREIGN> absolut vodka </FOREIGN> is saying that er these images are pur- pure and and and er er they have a clarity so it goes nicely with the images of of <FOREIGN> absolut vodka </FOREIGN> which is a very very well selling brand particularly in in in in the US likewi- <COUGH> later er <FOREIGN>  absolut vodka </FOREIGN> has for example taken fashion models like na- naomi campbell er to this place and they have been dressed and undressed in these er circumstances and and these images has been have been er transmitted er to some 600 million TV <COUGH> er <COUGH> TV viewers so so we are talking of images which are selling tremendously well and and and and and very extensively er <COUGH> er gio- gianni versace er <COUGH> er made some fashion shows in the environments and american rock groups have been doing rock videos in in in the in the environment of the hotel so the images the frozen icy er images are are <COUGH> selling pretty well in our cul- culture the question which i would er shortly like to to pose <COUGH> er is simply er whether this is simply a kind of of of er a dreamscape er produced in order to in order to correspond to the to the preconceived images of the south or whether it there is some kind of creative aspect to it whether north increasingly smolding er is molding it's own image and then marketing marketing it it it to the south and my argument <COUGH> which is er more extensively presented in the paper <COUGH> which i er hope you can circulate argues that er <COUGH> that certainly there are aspects of a normal touristic er er type of operation here but there are also elements where the north so to say seems to become <COUGH> be on it's way of becoming more self-su- self-sufficient er more of a subject than than than er <COUGH> than only a mere object of of er of er fantasies er dominant in in in the south er there are for example er <COUGH> er ice statutes er northern artist produce ice statutes <COUGH> er it is related to to to the nearby environment dog sledges er er motor sledge er safaris skiing safaris and and and and and er and so forth <COUGH> er the samis a- are very much absent from from the picture what to this place is trying to market is not so to say traditional lappish sami culture the traditional north er er <COUGH> this kind of exoticism which which er you have <COUGH> had very much very often present in in in the in the touristic sides up up in the north they seem to have a rather creative rather innovative er approach and and and er they produce these images very much on on their own i think the ultimate is that er this jukkasjärvi icehotel <COUGH> now also has a kind of embassy or mission in the old town of of er of stockholm er they have a huge freezer where they er <COUGH> have been storing er various er artistic pieces made made of ice and you can <COUGH> take a fur coat and you go into the freezer and you can explore the the images of course you have to pay <COUGH> something for the visit so it's not just the south going to the north er enjoying so to say northern er qualities er cold dark snow ice and so forth it's now also the the the north coming to the er south in in a somewhat offensive manner displaying so to say images of of of its own and putting them on on display in the very centre of of of <COUGH> stockholm so there is an offensive element and there is an element of turning the tables er in in in the picture that is my claim <COUGH> one interest aspect interesting aspect consist of that er SAS <COUGH> scandinavian airline systems has been buying in- into this and SAS er usually or traditionally was very modern <COUGH> i mean it was part of the swedish scandinavian modern story welfare rationalist planning clean nice er er summer type er landscape and so forth now if you <COUGH> er travel over the o- over the atlantic er on the SAS flights er when SAS wants to introduce where you land what scandinavia par- particularly sweden is about you get precisely these kind of images from jukkasjärvi so instead of being so to say rational modern north er rational modern scandinavia you get an exotic er <COUGH> er mythical er er <COUGH> type type of landscape where where where where cold ice snow dark that kind of elements dominate so it's a very different image of of er of what what er <COUGH> what er sweden is what ci- scandinavia is and where where er SAS wants to fly people i think that change in the in in the imaginary <COUGH> in in the images er er displayed er is quite indicatory what what's what's er going on er scandinavia er modern scandinavia is a kind of er rediscovering i- its its northern roots the suppressed er the very northernised north is is is is elevated is coming back and in in in <COUGH> in er some operations it's provided stays even in the old town town of stockholm it's no longer just located at at the extreme fringes of sweden er you can find it er also in the very central parts it's not just skansen er <COUGH> the summertime er er ru- er rural er sweden it's it's it's also northern er er sweden although the people the samis seem to be missing from from from the picture one could criticise this operation <COUGH> of course er by saying like er like er umberto eco or or <COUGH> jean er baudrillard that er what is being created here is a kind of hyperrealist er signs er which don't relate in any way to to to to to rela- reality to the real environment where you're located you can de- invent your weekend er north you can you can er take your business friends with you and and you you can disappear in a kind of a totally artificial er playful er er environment without really e- ex- experience mu- much of the north er play <COUGH> er of science without any link to to to local conditions but that's not what the operation is about they also offer a trip to the nearby iron mining town of of kiruna down in the in in the corridors of the of of the <COUGH> er mine you can visit er the european space agency radar station which is nearby there is in other words high technology <COUGH> nearby you are offered er skiing you are offered a a dip in in in the river if you dare to do it in in in in wintertime you can go to sauna although the sauna happens also to be constructed of ice er <COUGH> up up at the jukkasjärvi ice icehotel so you can to some extent also explore er the local conditions and it's not warm and cozy you can be freezing in cold er it's dark it's not light er bright er en- environment on the contrary what is so to say <COUGH> utilised is is darkness er ra- rather than light so i don't think it's it's totally correct to say that this is kind of hyperreality without any links to the to the lo- local realities lo- lo- local conditions it is a marketing to some extent of ice cold <COUGH> er darkness and so forth although in a rather visual manner in in in in a in a rather er innovative in a rather playful er manner in in in a postmodern rather than premodern er ty- ty- <COUGH> ty- type of er ty- type of manner so i think er er one should er not so to say be too hush <COUGH> a- about this there are interesting elements and to me it seems to indicate that there is a kind of innovativeness up up in the north they are play able to play on terms of their own with the images of our postmodern culture and and so to say create er spaces for them for themselves certainly this is a commercial operation not awfully successful <COUGH> but to sufficiently successful to to survive and and and er continue an interesting aspect is that er these images also sell sell very well in the north er there has been greenlanders for example visiting this place er <COUGH> er they have been taught how to do these kind of igloos and and and ice statutes and what kind of equipment and tools er tools you need and the jukkasjärvi people are proud to announce that they have been educating the the the greenlanders how to construct an igloo in a in a in a very ironical way er <COUGH> the the skills seem to travel up in the north er an ice hotel is under construction as far as i understand also in canada and this er kind of postmodern language visual language now seems to to to <COUGH> float around up in the north and and and be a kind of er unifying common language er as to various northern regions but of course then it also becomes to some extent their self-repres- representation er one might ask er some questions about that but i'm not going to do that but stop here thank you </S3>
