Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Manifesta 6 was cancelled by the President of the Greek Part of Cyprus
Libia Castro, Ólafur Ólafsson, ES/IS
Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson, Uterus Flags, 2008 © Manifesta 7/Wolfgang Träger.
Outdoor installation at via Mazzini, via Garibaldi, in front of Ex-peterlini and video installation at Manifattura Tabacchi in Rovereto
This project by Spanish and Icelandic artist duo Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson was triggered by the dense and relevant history of women-labour in the Rovereto area, among other in the textile and tabac industries. The music-video Caregivers investigated a (then) fairly recent phenomenon in the sector of female labour, that of East European immigrant domestic caregivers. The public outdoor installation Uterus Flags recuperated with humour the triangular flag to counterpart phallic symbols and the numerous examples of patriarchal representation in European plazas and public spaces. Inspired by feminist’s iconography, heraldry, Buren´s work, folk and party-flags, the colorful flags bear the silhouette of female sexual organs; uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries and vagina, celebrating and paying tribute to prior feminist´s art works. In Rovereto city of the Futurists, these flags became a part of the city’s architecture and life.