At the beginning of the 21st century the political climate in Iceland was somewhat stagnant. The same man had been prime minister for over a decade, the same political party had ruled the capital city for almost a decade and the president of Iceland was aiming for his third term in office. There seemed to be a steady dullness that nothing could chase away.

Enter Snorri Ásmundsson. Born in Akureyri in 1966, he had little formal education but had been working as an artist for years. Coming from such a small town his reputation hadn’t yet reached the capital, but that was about to change.

First, he tried to get a nomination for the top seat for the Independence party (the ruling prime minister's party) for the upcoming election to Reykjavik city council in the year 2002. But the party decided not to vote on who would lead the election and chose someone else for the job. The party lost the election so that person didn't get to be mayor anyway and ended up being a member of government instead. That route was not open to Snorri, who after being rejected decided to form his own political party. He then appointed himself as a candidate for mayor. (Ásmundsson has also appointed himself an honorary citizen in several cities, first in Akureyri, then Seyðisfjörður, and most recently New York.) The party he formed was called Left-Turn Right-Turn, an ironic play on the way parties and people are often categorized by those who got their political upbringing during the Cold War. It also indicated that the party could do a sharp turn on its stance towards any issue, something politicians (at least in Iceland) are famous for.

As a rule, the state-run TV and radio have to give each political party some airing in the weeks before elections. That is how Ásmundsson ended up in a serious debate with the other party leaders on national TV. Something that many thought was a disgrace and insult to ‘serious politicians’.

Ásmundsson's party didn't fare well in the elections so he lay low for a while. But soon he was ready to strike again. In the year 2004 there was going to be elections again, this time for the presidency of the Republic of Iceland. Ásmundsson announced that he would be running for president well in advance, in the fall of 2003, by publishing a letter to the president in the newspaper.

Ásmundsson started wearing a suit in the colours of the national flag, a blue suit and white shirt with a read tie, and talked like he was sure of victory. He even had a victory party weeks before the elections were to take place.

Rumors started that Ásmundsson couldn't get the required number of people (1500) to vouch for voting him, since candidates have to assure the election committee that there are people, besides their family, that are willing to vote for them. Ásmundsson denied this vehemently, but shortly before the elections, he announced that he withdrew his candidacy because the elections were becoming ‘a farce.’ (He wasn’t the only oddball to be running for presidency.)

Snorri Ásmundsson has been compared to the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), who was one of the founders of the Green Party. The big difference is though, that Beuys seriously went into politics, while Ásmundsson played the jester. Being a serious artist though, his political involvement meant that he was also showing politics in a new context.

In the fall 2005 Ásmundsson had an exhibition in The Living Art Museum where he took stock of the past years of his art life. In the ten years of being an artist he had more than a dozen solo exhibitions and similar number of group exhibitions. Soon he would be forty. Was he becoming stagnant himself?