Carrying The Inflatable Island during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019

May 14, 2019
Events

In collaboration with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), DISPLACEMENT: Uncertain Journeys will present an exhibition of contemporary art pieces from nine international artists to highlight disaster displacement during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP19), in Geneva, Switzerland.

The DISPLACEMENT panel exhibition, curated by Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat, will officially open on 15 May, from 20:30 to 21:00 at Quay Gustave-Ador, just next to the Jardin Anglais in Geneva. Differing in approach and scale, some of the artwork featured raises greater awareness about disaster displacement and the impacts of climate change through strong imagery and humor, such as Søren Dahlgaard’s The Inflatable Island. Other pieces draw on utopian visions or present-day realities in affected communities to prompt reflection about the actions we need to take now, and in the future, to anticipate and prepare for disaster risk and the impacts of climate change. In his black and white photographs,Veejay Villafranca captures scenes in displaced communities in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.

Throughout the week, DISPLACEMENT artist Søren Dahlgaard will invite conference delegates to participate in several performances with the Inflatable Island on the esplanade of the CICG. The Inflatable island is a sculpture that acts as prop representing people displaced by the negative effects of climate change from Maldives and other countries around the world, who most likely will need to find a new home sometime soon. The island suggests some sort of radical transformation is required in order to adapt to the new conditions brought by climate change and humanity’s impact on the planet. As it travels around in the new geological era known as the Anthropocene (shaped by humans) landscape, will it find a new home in any of these foreign lands? And will it be welcomed?

You will also be able to spot The Inflatable Island at the:

Ignite session on Wednesday at 11:30-11:45, CICG.
DISPLACEMENT panel exhibition opening, on Wednesday evening at 20:30-21:00, Quai Gustave Ador.
Launch of the Words into Action on Disaster Displacement, on Thursday morning at 9:15 in front of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and just after at 10:30, floating back from the Norwegian Refugee Council to the CICG.

DISPLACEMENT is a collaborative art project that cultivates artistic responses to disaster displacement. It curates exhibitions that provide policymakers an opportunity to reflect upon and understand disaster displacement from a visual, experiential and emotional perspective. DISPLACEMENT hopes to create memorable and informative experiences that prompt curiosity and foster continued engagement about disaster displacement once GP19 participants return to their home countries.

Follow PDD and DISPLACEMENT on social media throughout the GP19 to learn more.

For more information please contact:

Chirine El Labbane at chirinee@unops.org

or +41 79 542 18 09.