Monaco Revue   
Art in the park: Exhibition to save the planet

Monte Carlo is a place where women walk around in the latest stylish boots, sparkling jewels and flowing fur coats. So when, in a quiet corner of the well-manicured Casino Gardens, a pile of black garbage bags appeared overnight, it was bound to attract attention and cause chatter.

Nothing could have pleased Camille Delorme more. The 21-year-old Monaco-born university student is a member of Arty-Ecology, an organization which installed dozens of works by "ecofuturist" artists in the Casino Gardens to prompt the public to think about environmental preservation.

The heap of rubbish is art, Delorme explains.

"It symbolises how we the human race are suffocating under our garbage and that we need to act fast because we're in danger."

The 34 international artists range from the well established, such as Sosno and Nall, to up-and-coming voices. Most live and work in Monaco and the Alpes Maritimes region, and are united by the attitude of "ecofuturism". Arty-Ecology characterizes this as "understanding the issues at stake for our society, being aware of the benefits and the dangers, and projecting ourselves into the future to take good advantage of the first and to avoid the latter."

Strolling through the garden, Delorme randomly points out works and describes how they send the message of the association. There's Gilbert Casula's ouvre -- the pile of garbage titled "No Comment". Then there's Héléna Krajewicz's "The Threat". 		 
"She uses exhaust pipes and assembles them around the tree to symbolise the threat of pollution on nature," Delorme says.

Further on, there's Bernard Abril's "Installation Arabesque", which looks like red-rimmed canoes standing upright. These were sculpted from trees that fell during the violent storm which hit France in December 1999, destroying four percent of its forest.

"It makes you think of global warming and deforestation and about how we put the trees down and that we should put them back up," Delorme says.

Arty-Ecology hopes the effort will have an impact on the thoughts and actions of more than the average passer by.

The exhibit coincides with the meeting of over 100 government ministers from around the world attending a United Nations Environment Program meeting in Monaco this week (Feb 20-22). Along with senior figures from business, trade unions, science and civil society, the ministers will discuss ways to finance the "greening" of the global economy.

Arty-Ecology was founded in the spring of 2007 and works towards uniting art, ecology and humanitarian action. It agitates for the preservation of water in order to fight against poverty and ensure world peace.

The ecofuturist exhibition runs until March 07. As part of the activities, Arty-Ecology will auction an electric car on February 19, with the profits being shared between the Prince Albert II Foundation and Arty-Ecology. Part of the funds will be donated to another Monaco charity to finance a water sanitation project at a hospital in Sri Lanka, Delorme says.



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ADD YOUR COMMENTS

Comments to date: 1. Page 1 of 1.

Chanel,  Canada

Posted at 11:41am on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

I agree with Camille that we are suffocating under our garbage and that we need to act fast because we're in danger. It is so true!

 




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