Solidarity, Ecology and Art
January 2024
Mirrored stainless steel map of the Baltic Sea with Jean Denant in the reflection.
50 x 45 cm, 5cm thick, sandblasted.
BHello 😉
We invite you to join us on a new adventure that combines solidarity, art and ecology. It's a kind of last stand that makes sense and awakens our conscience, so that our children can have a better tomorrow.
‘He who nurses one sea nurses all the seas’. We chose the Baltic Sea. Christina is originally from the Baltic, and for a long time we owned a house there, on a small island in the Stockholm archipelago. Contrasting winters and summers, light and dark nights, immense skies, blue or white seas, islands with green or snow-covered forests, red houses, wooden pontoons, boats... In short, paradise.
The scenery is still postcard-perfect today, but in the extremely short space of thirty years, the full has given way to the empty and this world has totally deteriorated. To such an extent, and this is just one of many examples, that many of the places where we used to catch fish, sometimes miraculously, have become dead zones, and yes, I do mean dead, with no life left in them.
We all need the Baltic Sea to regain its vitality for the global balance of the seas, for the stability of this region of nine countries that depend economically on its maritime activity and above all for a strong position in the face of geopolitical tensions exacerbated by developments in Ukraine, where the Baltic Sea plays the role of Europe's first bulwark.
Awareness is not yet global, even though the causes of pollution are numerous and there is a huge amount to be done. Fortunately, many organisations are working effectively on this issue. We congratulate them and pledge to support them, not with a shovel in our hands, a placard brandished or a gun slung over our shoulder, but with what we know best: putting the spotlight on things, giving them interest and getting the word out.
To this end, we have set up a non-profit 1901 association called ‘MB D79’, whose general aim is to ‘Promote and support ecological advances in the world of the sea through works of art and cultural events’. The association is open to everyone, but its members are more specifically from the art world, gallery owners, collectors and well-informed art lovers.
We have called on Jean Denant, whose remarkable Mare Nostrum, a large-scale mirrored stainless steel Mediterranean sea, most of you will be familiar with, installed in Sète on the corniche, and at the Fondation Carmignac on the island of Porquerolles, both facing the sea. Another was a gift from François Hollande to the King of Morocco during his presidency. They have a huge impact.
In a similar initiative, the final objective is to install monumental maps of the Baltic Sea, each one proudly adorning a wall emblematic of a neighbouring country. These mirrors will then become luminous reminders of the importance of taking action, tracing the contours of the Baltic Sea with a visual and symbolic echo between united nations.
All this won't happen overnight, there's a lot to do and we need your help. We invite you to join us, especially for the first stage, which will be explained in the next post.
Christina & Martin<*)))>< & <°//////>><
PS : Les sujets abordés sont développés sur www.mbd79.org
Comments