Earth: Art of a changing world - major new public art installation at the Royal Academy of Arts
Date uploaded: November 26, 2009
The Royal Academy of Arts and the National Trust have collaborated on a major new public art commission, on display on the façade of the Royal Academy’s 6 Burlington Gardens as part of the exhibition GSK Contemporary, Earth: Art of a changing world, which opened on 3 December 2009.
Artists Marcos Lutyens and Alessandro Marianantoni worked with the National Trust on the design which is responsive to carbon dioxide levels in the environment. The installation will be modular, so that in 2010, after the exhibition, it can be dismantled and reassembled at various National Trust properties.
CO2 morrow is 8 metres in diameter and is inspired by a zeolite, a molecule that scrubs carbon dioxide from pollution sources.
The installation, made from recyclable carbon fibre, shows the fluctuating levels of CO2 ,the principal contributor to greenhouse gases, in the atmosphere, drawing on data from CO2 measuring systems monitored by the School of Environmental Sciences, East Anglia.
The work will be lit by 1,440 individually addressable LED lights that will make it a beacon on dark winter nights. Following the close of GSK Contemporary: Earth, CO2 morrow will tour selected National Trust properties in 2010 and will draw on real time CO2 readings from these locations, bringing the issue of climate change further into focus and allowing the work to be seen by a wider audience across England.
Read more about Earth: Art of a changing world on the Royal Academy's website
