Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson - Everybody is Doing What They Can

“Everybody is doing what they can” by Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson is the first in a new series of exhibitions at the Reykjavik Art Museum—Hafnarhus where the interrelationship between the museum and the public space outside its walls is critically reexamined. Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson experiment with the form and platform of television-advertisements where they engage themselves with current and existential matters concerning the city, environment and society. For the exhibition, they decided to create the gallery space into a recording site where we invited individuals to participate in their video production of interviews. They recorded video-portraits with persons selected as representative characters from different groups in the community. They talk about themselves, from where they were from and how they come to where they are now from their upbringings through study, working, and other social experiences.

The video portraits are rotated and shown at different times during the exhibition period, and they are displayed in dialogue with each other according to the available number of screening equipment in the exhibition.

Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson have worked together since the late 1990s, building up a strong body of work which focuses on social issues and the sharing of life experiences. Their work has a strong political core and gives voice to people on the margins of our society, migrants and asylum seekers.

Participants: Agnes Ósk Þorgrímsdóttir, Andri Snær Magnason, Annþór Kristján Karlsson, Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Benedikt H. Bjarnason, Björn Þorsteinsson, Edda Rós Karlsdóttir, Einar (Beggi) Guðmundsson, Elda Thorisson-Faurelien, Elín Helga Steingrímsdóttir, Grímur Atlason, Guðrún Pétursdóttir, Halldór B. Runólfsson, Henry Alexander Henrysson, Hjálmar Sveinsson, Jón Gnarr, Jóna Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Linda Guðmundsdóttir, Magnús Árni Skúlason, Methúsalem Þórisson, Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir, Pétur H. Ármannsson, Regína Bjarnadóttir, Sigriður Þorgeirsdóttir, Sigrún Ólafsdóttir, Sigurður Skúlason, Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, Tómas Már Sigurðsson, Valgarður Daði Gestsson, Zuzanna Tokarczyk, Þorsteinn Hilmarsson, Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir.