On Thursday September 7th 2017, an exhibition was opened in the National Library on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the publishing company Smekkleysa or Bad Taste. The first edition of Smekkleysa was a postcard issued on the occasion of the summit in Höfði in the fall of 1986. The proceeds of the sale were used to finance the first album of the Sugarcubes, which contained the song "ammæli" or Birthday. In the fall of 1987, the song was released in the UK, and the motto of Smekkleysa, "World Domination or Death", got a new meaning in the wake of the success of the Sugarcubes in the next few years, followed by more Icelandic artists. The exhibition shows a selection of posters and other editions from the 1980s, also in anticipation of the creation of Smekkleysa when Gramm, Medúsa, Eskvímo and others released publications by artists who belonged to the so-called new wave that had acquired a kind of self-sufficiency outside of traditional publishing companies, and that became the foundation of the organization of Smekkleysa or Bad Taste.

The exhibition closed 5 March 2018.

Brochure (PDF)