AMAZONIUM x UNESCO
Amazonium is an immersive art installation that showcases the power of protecting areas. The artwork moves entirely based on the data of deforestation and reforestation in the Amazon.
The work is an interactive sculpture of rainforest-shaped fabrics driven by data from the Amazon Basin that has been collected over the years. The forest-themed fabrics move up and down, embracing you as if you were inside the jungle, then falling away to let you experience the emptiness of deforestation. They then slowly rise again, visualizing the data from a UNESCO-protected area that is supported by LVMH.
The main purpose of the artwork is to make people feel the facts of what is happening in the hidden parts of the Amazonian rainforest. As the fabrics move up and down like protest banners it is a reminder of the loss and gain of rainforest that is in continuous motion and can not slip our attention one moment.
“The motion from being embraced, encapsulated into the jungle to standing in a naked nothingness of deforestation is an experience that turns the distant deforestation data into an emotional experience. This is something that I wanted to translate and communicate with the artwork Amazonium”
Recycled steel trees, sustainable woven fabrics, and LVMH dead-stock fabrics come together in this 6x6 meter interactive sculpture that has an elegant motion.
Following the data that is shown on the small screens in the gigantic work, the fabric panels elegantly move in a dance of destruction and regeneration. Emphasized by smell and sound the work provides a glimpse into the issues happening in one of the most important areas of the planet.
Amazonium reflects the urgency of the issue and provides a glimpse of hope in showcasing the areas of reforestation that have been achieved by the protection and education happening in those areas. The work embodies the feeling that resulted from a mission where the artist, the UNESCO MAB team and LVMH visited protected sites in the Amazonian rainforest.
“UNESCO strongly believes in the power of art to open minds and change behaviors, enabling connections with the living, the protection of biodiversity, and fostering reconciliation among people. The work of Thijs Biersteker testifies to a unique commitment to biodiversity through a distinctive dialogue between scientific data and cultural experiences, both of which lie at the heart of UNESCO’s mandate.”
Premiered
42th Unesco General Conference
Commissioned by
UNESCO & LVMH
Sustainably produced by
Woven Studio
Artistic Lead
Thijs Biersteker
Scientific Lead
Paulo Eduardo Massoca - Indiana University Bloomington, Meriem Bouamrane - UNESCO
Studio Director
Sophie de Krom
Technical Engineer
Tom Bekkers, Denisa Půbalová
Technical Build
Thijs Biersteker, Bastiaan Kennedy
Soundscape
End of Time
Seamstresses
Małgorzata Vicente, Lilla Baksay
Studio Assistants
Tomáš Potůček, Theo Rekelhof, Robin Vrugt, Storm van Gils, Nathan Pottier
With special thanks to
Alexandre Capelli, Nona Source, Matthieu Guével, Ed Douwes, Tyler van Gelder, Anna Juncadella, Kim Bénéroso Ponsin, Carlos Gangoso, UNESCO Brazil team.
Click here for a video about the artwork
More info about the UNESCO Man and Biosphere program:
https://www.unesco.org/en/mab
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-x-lvmh-project-provides-solutions-amazon-biosphere-reserves
