MARE NOSTRUM
Collaboration with Vigdis Fjellheim
Mural at the Peace Wall at the Nobel Peace Center, Rådhusplassen in Oslo 10. June 10, 2015 – April 3, 2016.
Producer: Kulturbyrået Mesén
The work is named after the Italian operation “Mare Nostrum” (Our Sea) which was launched in 2013 to rescue boat refugees crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. It was painted directly on a sixty-meter-long construction fence, called the Peace Wall, outside the Nobel Peace Center. 80,000 people pass this wall daily.
The fact that the exhibition was placed near the harbor in Oslo strongly inspired us to address this theme. The disaster is happening now, in the same sea, and it is important to constantly remind ourselves that it is our shared moral responsibility to care and help. We want to contribute to ensuring that what happens in the Mediterranean is not forgotten, even though the media has turned its focus elsewhere.
We worked with a collage technique where image archives, consisting of our own pictures and press images, formed the basis for constructing a complex mural. Some of the images we selected have already become symbolic and iconic, while others will evoke more universal associations. Different depictions of the sea served as the glue that tied the elements together.
The work on the wall was carried out in May/June 2015 over a span of four weeks and remained up until April 2016. The project received a lot of attention, including coverage in Artsbeat in The New York Times, TV features on Arte Metropolis from Berlin, Dagsrevyen, and Østlandssendingen.
The project was curated and produced by Kulturbyrået Mesén in collaboration with the Nobel Peace Center and Statsbygg.
More:
Nobels Fredssenters hjemmeside.
Fra ARTSBEAT, New York Times.
Arte Metropolis
Dagsrevyen 9/6/2015
