'Survival of the Fattest' by 'The little Mermaid'' |
Videos; Small file; large file, by Niller Madsen)Videos of re-erection of the statue
Rising the statue again after it had nearly drowned The sculpture ’Survival of the Fattest’ is a symbol of the rich world’s (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 themselves 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: Galschiot sets up fat lady by ‘The little Mermaid’ Fat lady fished up from Øresund Fat lady disappeared(assumed drowned) by the little Mermaid
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Photos by Tomasz Brodzikowski
Photos by Tomasz Brodzikowski
Photos by Tomasz Brodzikowski
Photos by Tomasz Brodzikowski
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