Environmental art exhibit aims to inform, educate about global warming

The Associated Press
Published: October 26, 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Sixteen dinner guests sit at a long, narrow table discussing the ozone layer in a hodgepodge of languages, from English to Dutch to Japanese.

The buzz of their exchanges fills a cavernous gallery at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in downtown Brussels. The work is part of the art exhibit "Melting Ice: A Hot Topic."

The show, which runs through Jan. 6, features the works of 40 artists from 25 countries. The works are about climate change, specifically the melting of ice caps and the effect on living species.

"Environmental issues are often presented scientifically — it removes the personal experience with the topic at hand. This exhibit is an opportunity to let the artist relate to the topic," said Mia Hanak, head of San Francisco's Natural World Museum, which collaborated with on the exhibit with the U.N. Environment Program's "Art for the Environment" initiative.

Hanak uses art as a catalyst to inform, educate and empower people of all languages about the environment they share.

"Denali Denial" by Chris Jordan, an American artist fascinated by consumerism, replicates Ansel Adam's famous photograph of Mount McKinley in Alaska's Denali National Park in a mosaic of 24,000 logos of General Motors' Denali sport utility vehicle. The number equaled six weeks of Denali sales in 2004. Half the tiles read "Denial" in stead of Denali.

The almost cartoonlike "Hermaphrodite Polar Bear," by Britain's Gary Hume, shows the animal's footprints from below the ice. It illustrates polar bears on thin ice because wind and waterborne toxins are entering the animals' bloodstream causing deformities in cubs that render them sterile.

Climate change was brought to the forefront of mainstream political consciousness with former Vice President Al Gore's 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." The film received an Academy Award for best documentary and Gore was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental work.

The exhibit's European tour was already in the works long before Gore's documentary was released in cinemas worldwide. Hanak calls the movie "an excellent example of stimulating awareness" and acknowledges it may draw more viewers to the show.

About 3,000 people attended the exhibition's opening day in Oslo. In all some 100,000 visitors saw the show in the Norwegian capital. By the time it closes in Chicago, Hanak hopes a million people will have seen it.

Her quest to promote environmental conservation began when at age 22, she traveled to Madagascar and witnessed the effects of deforestation. "I came back, threw out my TV and dedicated my life to trying to wake people up," said Hanak, 33.

She worked in museums but felt she didn't contribute enough. She wanted to create a space where even urban dwellers could connect with nature. The result was National World Museum, a traveling curatorial program that integrates environmentally inspired art with educational presentations.

"People do not have the opportunity to see how their consumption affects delicate ecosystems in other parts of the world," Hanak said. "Art inspires. Art evokes emotion and emotion results in change. The show works because artists are discerning observers of the world."

At a recent symposium, a panel of environmentalists debated the merit of creative approaches to climate change.

"I'm afraid I'm not so hopeful about human nature," said environmentalist Peter Matthiessen, author of such books as "Killing Mr. Watson," "Wildlife in America" and "Sand Rivers," adding that the thousands of people who care about global warming may not make up for the millions who don't.

"Melting Ice: A Hot Topic" travels to Monaco after its run in Brussels, and, in April, it goes to Chicago where it will remain through June 5, 2008 — Earth Day.

From the International Herald Tribune