A pair of urban canvases are being exhibited at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, with images symbolising the aim of implementing and revitalising global partnerships, the 17th UN Sustainable Development Goal.
Created by Collectif 1m83 Art, in collaboration with the UN Office in Geneva and with the support of Bank Julius Baer, the artwork is being displayed on the Tempus conference building in Ariana Park.
“The seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal underlines the crucial importance of partnerships between institutions but also of the co-operation and dialogue that we need between civil actors, societies and peoples,” said Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
“Let us be inspired by these exceptional works of art and reflect on the role we must play in our own worlds to achieve sustainable development for a better future.”
Entitled L’oiseau Bleu (The Blue Bird), the canvases show five images from the Tokyo parrots series, taken by Japanese photographer Yoshinori Mizutani.
In them, yellow birds journey from being perched, motionless, to soaring high against a rich blue background, before entering a cloud.
The transition from relative solitude to collective flying represents the importance of uniting towards a sustainable future.
“Through this installation, we wish to create meeting points with visitors, where they do not expect it, and initiate new dialogues around these themes that concern us all,” said Didier Schwarz, founder of Collectif 1m83 Art.
He added that to “exhibit in a place as emblematic as the United Nations” would allow the piece to address everyone in a public space.
Encouraging both Genevans and international delegations to pause and reflect, the exhibition will run until 2024.
