New York (AFP)
The Danish artist Jeppe Hein has installed a giant canvas in Central Park to accommodate thousands of blue brush strokes, symbol of breaths and air shared by humanity, but also a call to protect the environment.
After the first four lines painted by the artist, the painting, which is nearly 180 meters long and 3 meters high, was opened to those wishing to leave four long blue stripes.
The installation, titled "Breathe with Me" and set up for the UN climate summit, is open until Friday and can accommodate, according to the estimate of the organization, between 3,000 and 3,500 contributions.
It is already expected that 600 children of New York schools, solicited at the initiative of the Metropolitan Museum come to paint the canvas.
Organized with the association ART 2030, it is the most important artistic installation in Central Park since "The Gates" artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who had placed, in 2005, 7,500 colored doors on 37 km within the park.
Jeppe Hein told AFP that several similar initiatives are currently underway in several countries. He had already done the same small-scale project at the United Nations headquarters in New York a few days ago.
The Berlin-based artist is also planning to have his concept travel and said he is working on an installation in Greenland.
The goal, "to realize a collective work of art, to understand that we breathe the same air", and that "we must protect that", he explained. "We must remember that we are all connected."
At the end of this giant workshop, pieces of the painting will be donated to New York schools, said Jeppe Hein.
© 2019 AFP