Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson
2011
Marker and acrylic on canvas, 90 cm x 120 cm, and a frame with two photographs and text, 24 cm x 33 cm. The painting is made in collaboration with the Icelandic ambassador to Denmark, Sturla Sigurjónsson.
Libia Castro, born in Madrid, Spain and Ólafur Ólafsson, born in Reykjavik, Iceland are two artist based in Rotterdam and Berlin who began collaborating in 1997. Both artists received their MA in visual arts from The Frank Mohr Institute in the Netherlands, where their partnership was formed.
Berlin and Rotterdam-based Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson are continuing their ongoing campaign, Your Country Doesn't Exist, in the Danish context. The project began at Platform Garanti CAC in Istanbul in 2003: a year that was marked by global antiwar protests against the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies. The project has since developed to include different forms and formats as it travels the world spreading thestatement "Your country doesn't exist" in different languages and visual modes including: billboards, TV advertisements, postage stamps, paintings, wall-drawings, and lately, neon signs.
For this iteration Libia and Ólafur have collaborated with the Icelandic ambassador to Denmark, Sturla Sigurjónsson, on a "do it yourself", or "paint by numbers" project. This is the second painting in the series that artists have made in collaboration with an Icelandic ambassador. The first was produced earlier this year with the ambassador to Germany, Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson, in response to an invitation to participate in an exhibition of Icelandic contemporary art at his residence. Due to lack of funds the exhibition had a "shoe-string-budget". The artists’ response was to request the ambassador to provide labor for their piece in the show. Specifically, they asked him to complete a painting-by-numbers version of Your Country Doesn't Exist - Do It Yourself. Before agreeing to the project, Gunnar Snorri consulted with the Icelandic Foreign Ministry. They advised him not to participate and to request a new proposal. The artists insisted and through conversation opened up a space for diplomatic compromise. In the original proposal the ambassador had been asked not to fill in all the numbered fields of the painting, leaving the drawing and numbers of the painting visible. Gunnar Snorri suggested that he do the painting but leave the "N´T" field unpainted, attempting to reverse the negation. All parties agreed on this compromise. In Denmark the ambassador has followed the approach of his colleague, choosing not to fill in the "IKKE" in the drawing.