We Gave Medals to the Best Art at the Rio Olympics

Featured on hyperallergic.com

They’re all about sports, but that doesn’t mean the 2016 Rio Olympics have no room for art. In addition to the 13 official posters designed by 12 Brazilian artists, visual art — from sculpture to murals to even a graphic novel — has been popping up in Rio de Janeiro in the spirit of the games. And like the athletic competitions, some artists are more deserving of a gold medal for their efforts than others. So it’s time we have an awards ceremony! Here is a rundown of the art projects that have emerged so far, from the best to the humdrum.

Gold Medalist

Women sweep the gold this year, with Mariko Mori and Adriana Varejão both introducing two stunning, large-scale installations. Incidentally, both also center on water. Over five years in the making, Mori’s “Ring: One with Nature” sets a luminous acrylic ring at the peak of the 190-foot-tall Véu da Noiva waterfall in Cunhambebe State Park. An amped-up version of the ring sheinstalled at her past exhibition at New York’s Japan Society, this 10-foot-wide hoop changes color from gentle blue to gold as the sun strikes it at various times of the day. It is a simple but enchanting work that successfully evokes a message of oneness with nature and, echoing the five-ringed symbol of the Olympic Games, reminds of the interconnectedness of individuals across the world. That message will remain past the Games’ end, as the installation is a permanent addition to the natural environment.

To celebrate the Games in her home city, Varejão has covered the new Olympics aquatic center with what appears to be her signature, blue-painted Portuguese tiles assembled to form a tumultuous sea. They are not real tiles, however, but rather printed reproductions of her work “Celacanto Provoca Maremoto” (2004–2008), installed at Brazil’s Centro de Arte Contemporânea Inhotim. According to the New York Times, Varejão’s walls make up the Olympics’ largest commissioned contemporary artwork, but the work is not a winner simply for its size. Pairing together fragmented, historic Baroque motifs such as parts of angels, the cracked tiles offer a beautiful vision of layered, rolling waves, but one that also nods to a darker, not-to-be-forgotten past of colonialism.

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