Art Prize 2021: Libia Castro og Ólafur Ólafsson

The performance began in the courtyard of the museum, in a monumental immersive environment with colourful banners featuring slogans such as, “The new constitution, thanks!,” “#Theyarewithus,” “Refugees Welcome,” and “Action now” and after 4 hours it took out to the streets. Around 150 artists participated together with activists of civil and environmental organizations, and the public, making up the elastic Magic Team. Composers and musicians from Iceland and abroad wrote and performed the musical composition spanning rap, electronic, traditional rímur singing, choir and classical contemporary music and reading.

The artists are investigating communities up against the decline of the local in a global post-Fordist system, the historical and present conditions of nations in crisis, and the impact of this context on our daily lives and the natural environment. In the process, they search for a communal experience that evades the failures of democracy and the division of countries along unequal lines.

Libia and Ólafur have collaborated since 1997 and their work has been exhibited internationally at Manifesta 7, TENT Rotterdam, 54th Venice Biennial and Kunst-Werke, Berlin. They work in Reykjavik, Berlin, Rotterdam and Málaga in Spain, and their exhibition Magic Meeting featuring a film of the performance will open at Hafnarborg in Iceland on March 20, 2021.