Reviewed by Ian Mowll.
Photo © Phil Barton
Have you ever looked out to sea and been mesmerised by the waves rolling in? I have on many occasions. For me, I feel a visceral connection with the Earth when I see water rising and falling. And this is why I found this installation so compelling.
This wonderful art piece alerts everyone to rising sea levels due to climate change. It was at the Granary Square, London N1C 4AB between 18th and 23rd April 2023. There are fountains in Granary Square and they were programmed to rise and fall to mimic the tides around the world and rising sea levels. As the supporting information says:
It is entirely credible that sea levels may rise by 2 meters within the next hundred years, with low lying land being submerged and millions of people being displaced in coastal areas…
The four arrays of fountains in Granary Square, will be programmed by the artist to echo tides around the world… The tides will progress around the world on each pair of arrays, regularly moving from low to high tide and back again as the tide moves around the world.
Thus, 2m tides will engulf twenty of the most vulnerable cities and countries in the World, starting in the pacific to the east and working its way westwards until it reaches Los Angels in the west.
And you can see the full supporting information here.
You can see the cities and countries represented here:
I stood by the mark for London and I felt the visual impact of the water as it rose and fell. I wondered what London will be like in years to come. And as I live in London, I have reason to be concerned.
The installation was supported by a good amount of scientific data. It was good to see the care gone into the work, I found this made the installation more engaging.
Finally, here are video clips of the installation:
All videos ©Phil Barton
Congratulations to Phil Barton and others involved in this project – it really brought home to me the challenge of rising sea levels and how urgently we need to reduce carbon emissions.