There are simply too many online meetings. We need to get out of the office and back into real life. How about Iceland? That’s what Marcel Zemp and Richard Herz, founders and co-CEOs of zetcom, decided. A good reason for the trip to Iceland was quickly found. In Selfoss, the annual conference of museum professionals took place in October 2025. Sarpur, the Icelandic cultural heritage database, is currently being migrated to MuseumPlus — and at this museum conference in southern Iceland, the rollout was discussed and celebrated.
So, Iceland it was. What a natural spectacle! Volcanoes paired with glaciers, wild beaches meeting vast landscapes, the gaze losing itself on the horizon. And not a soul in sight — at most a few horses, for whom time seems to stand still. “I used to walk a lot on my own and sing at the top of my lungs. I think a lot of Icelandic people do this. You don’t go to church or a psychotherapist — you go for a walk and feel better.” So said Björk, Iceland’s most famous singer, in a newspaper interview.
At the museum conference in Selfoss, Richard and Marcel wanted to understand why a country of just four hundred thousand inhabitants has over one hundred and thirty museums — and to learn that Icelanders have a passion for collecting things. Traditions are to be preserved and the country’s history passed on.
“Our museums are the collective memory banks of the nation. They don’t just show us what happened, but how it shaped us, providing essential threads to understand who we are as Icelanders,” summarises cultural sociologist Dr. Sigríður Magnúsdóttir.
Through the Icelandic passion for collecting and preserving, many private homes gradually become small museums. From Sveinbjörg Sveinsdóttir, director of the consortium of Icelandic libraries, it became clear how important it is for the country’s many small museums to network with one another — and to engage in exchange with international collections. The MuseumPlus Community Version will now help to make this possible.
What remains from zetcom’s spontaneous trip to Iceland is the short film Iceland Journey — and the memory of Iceland as a welcoming island of lived serenity, free from hustle and unnecessary fuss.
