From August 26 to September 2nd 2013, APE joined 69,613 people from all over the world in Black Rock City, Nevada to express, celebrate and inspire the Burning Man principles of radical inclusivity and creativity through art installations and self expression. Our video captures some of this excitement!
APE’s presence was motivated by a desire to evoke awareness and discussions about climate change, particularly on issues directly related to the destruction of our oceans and marine environments. Participants were invited to make creative visual statements about the perils facing our oceans by experimenting with environmentally friendly graffiti KRINK drip markers. We thought this would be an appropriate medium given how younger generations, since ancient Greek and Roman times, have expressed social and political messages through artistic expressions of graffiti. As a creative genre, graffiti has changed over time to become an established and highly valued art form as evidenced by its presence in galleries and as highly commissioned street art. APE believes that the very act of making graffiti can endow a sense of empowerment that can potentially awaken an inner capacity toward action!
Like the movement of water in our oceans, these drawings will flow from the Burning Man desert and circulate as part of a forthcoming APE project by resurfacing in the body of a blue whale (art installation) – our largest fellow mammal – who will travel from the isles of Britain, across the English channel to France and depart from the Atlantic to re-emerge in the Pacific ocean in Japan. Moving around the world, the blue whale will provide a platform for people of all ages to interactively engage with issues surrounding climate change and the oceans, making a crucial bellowing call for awareness. More details of APE’s Blue Whale Project will be announced in 2014.
