You can see the pictures of the installation:

SURVIVAL

OF

THE FATTEST

“I’m sitting on the back of a man.

He is sinking under the burden.

I would do anything to help him.

Except stepping down from his back”

Justitia (western goddess of justice)

The sculpture ’Survival of the Fattest’ is a symbol of the rich worlds (i.e. the fat woman, ‘Justitia’) self-complacent ‘righteousness’. With a pair of scales in her hand she sits on the back of starved African man (i.e. the third world), while pretending to do what is best for him.

Climate changes are caused by the western world, but the consequences hit the third world hardest. Even so, we are not willing to give up our way of life or make real changes. The poor countries are willing to do, comparatively, far more to lower CO2 emission than the western world. Still, the west all too often argues that they will have admissions and promises of further CO2 reductions from China, India, Russia and other countries that emit (and always have emitted) far less than the western world.

The little Mermaid is a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen and one of the most important symbols in Denmark. It is a part of the Danish idea of them selves as a small, cosy nation where the living is good, but where we are also doing our bit to help the world that surrounds us. This is, of course, only a fairytale.

The western world and the Danes sit like the mermaid on the rock or like the fat lady in a safe distance from the water level. Happy and assured that they have the capital it takes to prevent that the climate changes hit us. Meanwhile, island states around the world are being flushed away, while hurricanes, drought and hunger hit the rest of the world, especially Africa. But, we continue to sit on our rocks convinced that the 200 million climate refugees the UN foresee in 40 years will not affect us.

Survival of the fattest is a part of SevenMeters.net. The aim of the initiative is to put focus on the consequences of global warming through various art installations, which will highlight the climate change from different angles:

SevenMeters art events (on display Nov 13 – Dec 19)

- The Pulse of the Earth (at Bella Center Metro Station) is a lighting installation is an artistic interpretation of the Earth as a living organism. The station is lit up in red pulsating LED-light changing slowly from red to neutral following a curve, congruent with the geological ’breath of the Earth’.

- Refugees in Water (at Bella Center Metro Station) is a group of sculptures in human size that are placed in the water ditches under the metro. They, too, are illuminated with the pulsating red light.

- The Messenger (at Bella Center Metro Station) A 4 meters high bronze sculpture depicting ‘a messenger’ with a mythical radiation.

- ‘Freedom to Pollute’ (at Amager Fælled) A 6 meters high replica of the Statue of Liberty emitting smoke from the torch. It is placed on big hill near Bella Center.

- Wandering Refugees (by Bella Center) are 10 meters high sculptures with copper faces and long African women’s costumes in shrill colors. They are put up on the savannah-like areas to remind us of female refugees in Sudan.

- ‘Balancing Acts’ (At Christiansborg slotsplads and elsewhere) are 10 statues balancing on 7-15 meter poles. They are made in connection with UN’s Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) in corporation with Eco-net.dk.

- The 7 meter line in Copenhagen (this is only between December 6 - 18) is a visualization of a 7 meter rise of the sea level which will be the consequence of all the ice in Greenland melting. A 24 km line of blinking red lights is placed at 7 meters above average sea level all over Copenhagen to get an impression of this potential new water level.

The sculptor Jens Galschiot is the initiator of SevenMeters.net. Galschiot is renowned for plenty of thought-provoking inter­national art manifestations focusing on global issues, see www.aidoh.dk

SevenMeters.net

Contact us: Banevaenget 22 - 5270 Odense N

Tel: / , Fax

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Internet: SevenMeters.net