Evironmental artwork marks World Cleanup Day

Take note – story published 3 years ago

To mark World Cleanup Day on September 19, on September 18 LTV reported on a joint initiative of JSC Latvijas valsts meži (Latvia's state forests/LVM) and the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMM).

The initiative takes the form of an "art object"' outside the Museum based upon a work by twentieth-century artist Rihards Zariņš designed to give the message that "Littering is not art".

In the campaign “Littering is not art”, people are invited to pay attention to the problem of forest pollution, to be aware of their responsibility to nature, and to participate in the World Cleanup Day (September 19). 

"Last year, almost 2,000 cubic meters of waste was removed from the forests, which is comparable to about 26 train freight wagons. In order to address the problem of forest cleanliness, it would first be important to introduce a deposit system for PET bottles. Plastic waste accounts for more than half of all waste, ”said LVM's Tomass Kotovičs.

LVM manages and administers 1.6 million hectares of state forests in Latvia and plays a crucial role in the national economy as well as providing opportunities for recreation and education

The environmental installation is based a work in the LNMM collection, Rihards Zariņš's painting “Mūža mežs” (1900-1910), to which is added a layer of pollution, becoming a clean, untouched forest landscape with waste in the foreground. The environmental object symbolically depicts the connection between art and nature, showing the negative influence of man and the consequences of abuse. 

An LNMM exhibition dedicated to Rihards Zariņš (1869–1939) and the environmental object “Littering is not art ”will be available until October 25.

However, LTV viewers who though the live broadcast link to the Museum would be cause to pull the coverings off the new artwork were in for a slight disappointment, as it remained under wraps throughout the report. It was revealed later in the day.

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