Artist in search for museum space for the worlds 3.6 billion poorest and 8 richest

Posted by Focus on Arts and Ecology on - -

Where to find a 4,900m² square for 3.600.000.008 stones?

An Ocean of Inequality - an art installation by Jens Galschiot - will stage the absurd inequality in today’s world. An 'ocean' of tiny stones symbolise the poorest half of the world, which all together own as much as world’s 8 richest.

An Ocean of Inequality is a walk trough 1576 tons (3.6b) of tiny stones which leads to 8 guilded pedistals. They own the same!

Dear Jon

Art is a language which can visualize the incomprehensible. In spite of graphs, illustrations and explanations only few really understand the absurd span between the few rich and many poor in this world. Using 1,576 tons of 8mm stone Jens Galschiot wants to show us that 8 people own the same as the poorest half of the world (see Oxfam report).

Galschiot is now in search of a huge square in front of a museum or city hall which can hold the enormous art installation.

If you have contact to a museum or art space that is capable, and willing, to display 'An Ocean of Inequality', please take contact to the artist by replying to this email.

The art installation 'An Ocean of Inequality':

Centrally in the installation is The Sea of Stones - 3,600,000,000 stones of 8 mm each symbolizing the poorest half of the world. The stones are spread out over an area of 70x70 meters, in a layer that has an average height of 20 cm. The stones are divided by pathways for walking.

Eight gilded pedestals are found in the middle of the area, rising one meter above the 'sea'. On top of each pedestal is a small stone, which is protected by a small glass container (bell jar). The eight stones symbolize the world’s richest men which own as much as the entire ‘ocean’.

Facts about the art installation:

1,576 tons of stones are needed.
This is 900 m³ of stones.
Each of the 3.6 billion stone is about 8 mm in size.
40 large truck loads of stones are needed for the installation.
20cm will be the average height of stones in a 70x70m square.
Two thirds around the globe, is the reach of the stones, if placed in a long line (28,000km).

We can’t wait to begin making the art installation. I hope you find the project interesting, and please don’t hesitate to write if you have a good place to exhibit it.

Bellow you can see some of our other activities.

All the best.

Lasse Markus Cand. Soc. – Exhibition Manager at Gallery Galschiot

Other activities

Movie about Galschiot in cinemas around Denmark

(So far it is in Danish only – sorry about that)

Sometimes we feel a bit heroic when we make the great sculpture happenings around the world. Still we were quite surprised when a documentary about the latest happening exhibition in Bonn ended up in cinemas in Denmark's three largest cities.

The film maker Stephan Brandt joined our (very successful) tour to the climate summit COP23 in Bonn, Germany, and he recorded our events and exhibitions. The phottage was made in to a documentary movie called "The doings of a crazy man" which he describes as follows:

"The doings of a crazy man" takes the viewer all the way into Jens Galschiot’s studio/workshop and follows the artist and his staff all the way to Bonn in Germany, where he makes a big art happening.

We are currently working to get the sculpture Unbearable to the United States for several exhibitions. Afterwards it is going to Poland for COP24 climate summit.

Fuck Double Standard

The Sculpture ‘Fuck Double Standard’ was sold for 3.370 Euro through a national charity event 'Danmarksindsamling' in favor of the world's poor.

The sculpture was actually quite critical towards Danish charity (or rather the lack of it). It is a comment to the fact that Denmark has decimated its national development aid with an amount that is 50 times higher than what we can ever hope to collect at this charity event. These cut downs happen while the Danish people and Denmark get richer every year.

The sculpture created a lot of debate and we are very satisfied with the outcome of the art event. The buyer of the big finger was Morten Jeppesen from the presse bureau PressConnect.dk

Fundamentalism exhibition

The Children of Abraham/Fundamentalism is exhibited in Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus from March to June. The sculpture shows the 600 darkest and brightest quotes from the Bible, the Torah and the Quran.

Now the city's schools, libraries and cultural institutions will get involved in order to make a constructive debate about Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the religions’ differences and (many) similarities and their dark and bright sides.