Festival of the World

The Southbank Centre opened the Festival of the World for the Diamond Jubilee Weekend with the unveiling of an outdoor landscape that visitors can explore for the duration of the three-month long celebrations. Two new ambitious installations, Antarctica Flag and Antarctica World Passport Delivery Bureau, by Lucy + Jorge Orta demonstrate that when people work creatively together, individual lives and communities can change for the better.

First installed in Antarctica by Lucy + Jorge Orta during their 2007 expedition No Borders, the Antarctica Flag is a kaleidoscope of different nations, according to the artists: "As if through the filter of a prism, the flag concentrates all the national colours into the sum of light…. All identities coexist, side by side, hand in hand. The edges blend, symbolising belonging to a larger common identity. This flag should become the flag of the new world community, to be raised as a supranational emblem of human rights.”

This monumental crown of forty-four flags was installed on the roofs of Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall as well as the Queen’s Walk flagpole overlooking the river Thames.

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