A “message in a bottle” against ocean pollution surfaces in Venice
Environment — di Rudi Bressa
Two bottles floating in Venice's Grand Canal to raise awareness of the problem of marine pollution caused by plastic and our waste.
A “message in a bottle” against ocean pollution surfaces in Venice
Two bottles floating in Venice's Grand Canal to raise awareness of the problem of marine pollution caused by plastic and our waste.
Venice is not only mass tourism. That tourism which is devouring it, bite by bite. It is also art, and protest. It seems the perfect stage. This is demonstrated by the recent incursion of Banksy, who left his mark on the lagoon city. Or the mural by Andreco, which explains what the effects of climate change on the city of the doges will be. Or, more recently, the installation The twin bottles: message in a bottle": two large metal sculptures depicting two floating bottles, to raise awareness of the problem of ocean pollution.
Read also: The LifeGate PlasticLess project arrives in the Lagoon
The work – promoted by Fondazione Gabriele e Anna Braglia, Fondazione Alberto Peruzzo and Helsinn – by artists Helidon Xhixha and Giacomo Jack Braglia was exhibited on the Grand Canal. From today the installation will be moved to the waterspace in front of the Arsenale, before returning in front of Palazzo Ca' Vendramin Calergi from 25 August to 1 September on the occasion of the Regata Storica. A message of protest against all the plastic bottles that end up in the sea, and that are putting marine ecosystems at risk while also sparing no negative effects on a city in constant symbiosis with water like Venice.
"Art, since antiquity, has always depicted images that became symbols to commemorate events, victories and important moments," Helidon Xhixha told LifeGate by email. "Even today, contemporary art must represent symbols to raise people's awareness of facts and events that affect the world and the community. With The Twin Bottles, we artists wanted to create two works that bring awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the seas, now in Venice and then in other European cities where there are lakes, rivers and seas, to keep this message about water pollution alive on a continuing basis."
Art in Venice tells the story of environmental emergencies
The collaboration between the two artists grew from a shared intention: to shake the thousands of tourists who navigate the Grand Canal every day. Helidon Xhixha, from Durrës and celebrated for his ability to work stainless steel, transforming it into works of more than modest dimensions, shaped his floating bottle — four metres long — giving it a polished surface that interacts with its surroundings by reflecting the spaces and the water of the Grand Canal. The compression at its central section is a symbolic reference to the danger facing the transparency of the seas, put at risk by the improper use of plastics.
The reflection is then amplified in the second steel bottle, which is 3.5 metres long by 130×130 cm and covered by Giacomo (Jack) Braglia, a photographer born in Lugano who exhibits his photographs depicting the phenomenon of pollution at the Syria pavilion at the Arte Biennale.
Participation in Tartalove, to save sea turtles
Not only art. The two artists wanted to actively participate with a donation to the Tartalove project by Legambiente, symbolically adopting two loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) cared for and rescued at Legambiente's sea turtle recovery centre in Manfredonia and released into the sea a few days ago at Mattinata in the province of Foggia.
2 #tartarughemarine #Helidon e #Jack sono state rilasciate al largo di Mattinata grazie al CRTM Manfredonia @Legambiente. grazie agli artisti Helidon Xhixha e Giacomo Braglia che hanno simbolicamente adottato gli animali con una generosa #donazione. tartalove.it ❤️
The two artists also guaranteed to cover for one year the costs of medicines and food for all the specimens housed at the recovery centre. Helidon and Jack — the names given to the two turtles, inspired by their benefactors — had been caught a few weeks earlier during a trawling fishing trip off the coast of Mattinata and immediately admitted to the Centro recupero tartarughe marine in Manfredonia, where it was discovered that they had ingested plastic objects.
The public debate and attention seems — finally — to have begun. The urgency is at its greatest, and managing plastic with awareness is a priority for society as a whole.