‘That serene Scandinavian facade, yet there’s terror underneath’: artist unveils design for Norwegian national memorial to 22 July attacks

A 12-metre high mosaic will show the reflection of a wading bird native to Utøya island, where Anders Breivik murdered 69 people in 2011Fourteen years ago, the heart of Oslo was reconfigured by hate. On 22 July 2011, Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik detonated a car bomb outside the office of the then prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, killing eight people and damaging surrounding buildings, before murdering a further 69 people on the nearby island of Utøya.But now the same site is to be reconfigured by hope. Last week, after a multi-round, three-year-long selection process, a jury of curators, politicians, artists and representatives of the victims and survivors of the attacks announced the winning design for a new Norwegian national memorial to be unveiled in time for the 15th anniversary in 2026. Continue reading...