Reykjavík keeps its art in converted harbour warehouses, a sculptor's self-built dome and a punk museum inside an old public toilet. Three days of national collections, artist-run spaces and basalt-column architecture, all walkable.
Ólafur Elíasson's shell of roughly 10,000 quasi-brick glass modules wraps four halls; the lobby opens at 08:00 free of charge, and low morning sun turns the south façade into a field of coloured hexagons.
The city's 1930s harbour warehouse, converted into galleries in 2000, gives six halls to living Icelandic artists plus a permanent room of Erró's pop collages. Open 10:00–17:00, Thursdays until 22:00.
Hannes Kr. Davíðsson's 1973 teak-and-glass pavilion on Klambratún park holds the estate of Jóhannes Kjarval, who painted lava crusts until trolls and faces surfaced in them. The east wing rotates contemporary shows.
Ásmundur Sveinsson built this white dome and pyramid himself from 1942, copying forms he had seen in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Around 30 of his sculptures stand on the surrounding lawn, open around the clock.
Two floors trace 1,200 years from a Viking boat burial to a 1970s living room. The Valþjófsstaður door, carved around 1200 with a lion-and-knight tale, justifies the visit on its own. Open daily 10:00–17:00 in summer.
Guðjón Samúelsson designed the national stage in the 1930s as a cliff of grey basalt columns, its interior detailed after an elf palace of the sagas. The foyer is open to walk-ins whenever no rehearsal is running.
Housed in a former ice house on the edge of Tjörnin lake, it holds the country's Kjarval, Ásgrímur Jónsson and Erró collections alongside prints by Munch and Picasso. Open 10:00–17:00, closed Mondays.
Iceland's only arthouse cinema screens domestic features with English subtitles under its 'Icelandic Cinema' strand, plus late-night cult programming on weekends. Tickets around 1,900 ISK; bar open in the lobby.
A 1930s artist's studio house on Freyjugata below Hallgrímskirkja, now three floors of month-long shows by Icelandic painters and photographers, with a bakery and coffee counter in the old basement.
Built into a disused public toilet beneath Bankastræti, it charts Reykjavík punk from Fræbbblarnir to Björk's Sugarcubes. Headphone stations at every wall, guitars you can plug in, entry 2,500 ISK.
A 1948 herring meal factory on the Grandi waterfront now stacks Kling & Bang, the artist-run Living Art Museum (Nýlistasafnið) and Studio Ólafur Elíasson across three floors of raw concrete.
The Skólavörðustígur record shop and label that put out Sigur Rós and múm early on. Staff hand you an espresso and a chair and let you play whole albums before deciding; Icelandic pressings fill the ground floor.