Three thousand guests visit the Icelandic pavilion on the opening days
The official Icelandic representation at the 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, is the Spanish-Icelandic duo Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, whose collaborations explore the political, socio-economic, and personal forces that affect life in the present day.
The exhibition, Under Deconstruction, was curated by Ellen Blumenstein.
The pavilion opened on June 3rd and three thousand people visited the pavilion during the opening days.
Dorrit Moussaieff, the first lady of Iceland inaugurated the pavilion and Audur Edda Jokulsdóttir, head of cultural affairs at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs addressed guests on behalf of the Icelandic government.
Castro and Ólafsson’s exhibition for Venice, Under Deconstruction, unveils current socio-political issues in Iceland and elsewhere, using video, performance, audio-sculpture, neon intervention and painting. It features: a new iteration of their ongoing project, Your Country Doesn’t Exist (2003-present), which is presented in four new iterations, a musically-inflected video installation, Constitution of the Republic of Iceland (2008-2011) performed by chamber choir Hymnodia, led by Eythor Ingi Jonsson and last an audio sculpture, Exorcising Ancient Ghosts (2010 - 2011), installed on the roof of the pavilion.
Three performances were staged in relation to the opening featuring a mezzo-soprano, Ásgerdur Júníusdóttir, traveling the canals of Venice on a gondola while singing the phrase: “This is an announcement from Libia and Ólafur: Your country doesn’t exist”. The vocalist sang the phrase in several languages, and was accompanied by both trumpet (David Boato) and guitar (Alberto Mesirca). The lyrics were written by the artists, and include adapted phrases from a text by writer and curator Antonia Majaca, about the Your Country Doesn’t Exist project. The score was composed by Icelandic composer Karólína Eiríksdóttir who also composed the score to Constitution of the Republic of Iceland. The performance travelled through the canals of the Giardini di Castello where many of the national pavilions are located, the canals near Rialto in the center of Venice and finally the canals near the pavilion, leading to the inauguration of the pavilion on the evening of June 3rd.
The exhibition is open until November 27 and is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday 10 – 18.