Arboreal
Date:
2015
Ref:
5573
Materials:
Bronze, Murano glass flowers, UTM certificate of moral ownership
Dimensions:
200 x 100 x 100cm
Exhibition history:
2015 Glasstress Gotika, 56th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale
Courtesy:
Lucy + Jorge Orta, Berengo Studios
Arboreal is a powerful allegory of the fragile balance among the many thousands of species that depend on rain forests for sustenance. A magnificent bronze tree onto which are carefully grafted five delicate glass seed pods, blown by the maestros at Berengo Studio in Murano, Venice. The sculpture was commissioned for the Venice Biennale international art exhibition Glasstress.
Arboreal forms part of Lucy + Jorge Orta’s ambitious Perpetual Amazonia campaign, whereby each artwork in the series Amazonia is accompanied by a certificate of ‘moral ownership’ assigned to a precise plot measuring one metre by one metre in the Amazon rainforest.
Through the acquisition of an artwork, the Perpetual Amazonia project aims to restore our focus to the world around us, both its beauty and its imperilled state. By taking ownership, the project seeks to perpetuate the importance of the rainforest to the health of our planet and to convey its value to our daily lives.