2019
10 solar powered LED highway message boards, text
Dimensions variable
Text written by:
Justin Brice Guariglia, Greta Thunberg, Marian Womack, Zadie Smith, Craig Santos Perez, Bruno Latour, Timothy Morton, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner & Aka Niviana,, public contributions, 12 indigenous elders (Kgao Qamme & Kgamxoo Tixhao (Botswana); Floriza Da Cruz Pinto (Brazil); Lyudmila Khomovna (Siberia); Atome Ribenga (Gabon); Mamo Evangelista Mojica (Colombia); Barbara Gibson-Thorbe (Australia); Rita Blumenstein and Marie Meade (Alaska); Aoki Hiroyuki (Japan); Julieta Casimiro (Mexico); Aama Bombo (Nepal))
Reduce Speed Now!, Karishma Rafferty, Curator: Public Realm & Partnerships at Somerset House Trust Somerset House London, UK, 2019
Note:
To mark Earth Day 2019, American artist and environmental activist Justin Brice Guariglia presents REDUCE SPEED NOW!, a new project commissioned by Somerset House bringing together international perspectives on the world’s ecological crisis.
Using a series of large solar-powered LED signs usually seen on motorways, Guariglia shares works which consider the global climate crisis from poets, writers, and philosophers from around the world and explores how people can navigate the complex issues surrounding the subject through different languages.
Forming a striking installation in the neoclassical courtyard, the signs display aphorisms, poetry, and excerpts from literature from these international voices, engaging in ideas of sustainability and innovation.
As part of this forum, visitors to Somerset House are invited to contribute to the artwork and the wider ecological discussion by submitting their own writing for display over the course of the installation.