There’s an elephant in the room (the lack of sense of necessity)

Artist and declarer Johannes-Harm Hovinga‘s 11-day art performance during COP27 highlights criticality and complacency in climate response.

Brightly coloured shreds of paper with printed text fill the screan: the IPCC report has been turned into confetti.
Photo: Carlijn Stortelder

Eleven days, 3068 pages.

During the 2022 COP27 climate conference in Egypt, declaring artist Johannes-Harm Hovinga worked full-time on perforating the latest version of the IPCC report on climate change to turn it into confetti.

The entire report – 3068 pages long – was perforated with a hole punch for 10 hours a day in an eleven-day intervention, between November 7 and November 17 – 2022.

An image of Johannes-Harm Hovinga sat at a desk, holepunching a colourful sheet of the printed IPCC report, with a large pile remaining.
Photo: Carlijn Stortelder

It might seem ridiculous, but one could argue that it’s even more ridiculous that we have an extensive report on the urgency of climate change, yet we decide to do virtually nothing with that information.

Johannes-harm hovinga
An image of Johannes-Harm Hovinga taken over the shoulder, sat at a desk, holepunching a colourful sheet of the printed IPCC report, with a large pile remaining.
Photo: Carlijn Stortelder

The Guardian had described the report as “its starkest warning yet” of “major inevitable and irreversible climate change. Here, Johannes shares the inspiration for this piece of work:

“Spring 2022.

Blossom, the spring confetti, drifting like snow through the streets. The sense of joy, spring dispelling the gray skies where this winter seemed like an everlasting autumn.

The winters are getting milder, the summers with more extremes, drought, floodings, wildfires.

There is a party on the corner of the street, I remember the fuss in February about whether carnival could continue because of the pandemic (Covid19), if there were no more important things at stake.

My thoughts melted my sense of joy, the new IPCC reports made a fresh new memory showing the lack of sense of necessity.”

A large pile of brightly coloured shreds of paper with printed text fill the screan: the IPCC report has been turned into confetti.
Photo by Carlijn Stortelder

Check out Johannes-Harm Hovinga’s profile for more on their declaration and work

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