Even art can save the planet, if it launches messages that invite the collective conscience and individual people to reflect on the climate change and if it itself is sustainable: like that of the artist Reborwhose new installation is located in front of the Porta Nuova station in Turin and is linked, as already on other occasions, to the movement of Fridays for Future.
The last work of Reborstage name of Marcus Abrates26 years old, born in Savigliano, in the province of Cuneo, but Turinese by adoption, considered one of the most promising young artists on the Italian scene and who Venice Biennale 2022 won first place in the street art section, it’s called Widespread blindness. The installation depicts a man covered by a veil, the edges of which leave only his legs uncovered (studded into a pair of pink trousers).
«Widespread blindness – explains Rebor – is inspired by the novel The Great Blindness. Climate change and the unthinkable of the Indian sociologist and journalist Amitav Ghoshand to the phrase “Will this age of ours, so proud of its self-awareness, be called the age of the Great Blindness?”». “The title of the work – explains the artist – is clearly a message: the common feeling of the people is identical to that of Don’t look up‘ (the film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence): “as long as the crisis doesn’t affect me personally, it’s not my problem”. But this way of thinking paralyzes our ability to act and save ourselves in time, because the consequences can be catastrophic: floods, tornadoes, droughts are just some of the effects of the climate crisis. Glaciologist Olaf Eisen warns that melting glaciers are a “cry of alarm that urges us to change our lives”».
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The installation Widespread blindness And sustainable in every aspect: from the chosen support (upcycled: a disused advertising totem), to the materials of which the structure itself is made. Which are, says Rebor «a pair of mine used shoes (I thought that people often steal statue pieces and shoes can always be used), pants rose in cotton and then the rest of the structure, which is in plaster». The sustainable concept of circularity (i.e. one second life generated by re-use) is inherent in the installations themselves «which arise on the street, after a few hours they are removed (because abusive) – but, explains the artist – they are then reviewed and reposted, becoming viral, on social media». Some art projects by Rebor, also known as Mr Pink for the presence of rosethe color with which he signs all his works, are connected to theArtificial intelligence. Even the AI is designed by Rebor according to a concept greens of environmental protection: «thanks to AI, we should learn how to build machines for the world and not vice versa; we should have a human project based on the ability to use things in a way smart and not hard, that is, so as not to exhaust them and not to exhaust the resources at our disposal».
Rebor’s works underline how important it is to stimulate collective consciences through art, and what kind of psychological change should take place in our minds to arrive at an effective awareness of the importance of maintaining the already precarious balance of the entire ecosystem of planet. «The climate crisis is already underway but we can still change. You need creativity.” And he concludes: «Let us not remain blind».