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Artist News
Thom Yorke takes climate change campaign to Brighton beach
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 29 November 2010
Thom Yorke and Radiohead artwork maker Stanley Donwood joined a team of climate change campaigners on Brighton beach this weekend to create a ‘human sculpture’ of the eleventh century Viking King Canute who, legend has it, once tried to stop the tide coming in, albeit slightly up the coast from Brighton.
The human sculpting was part of the 350 Earth campaign, which instigated a series of large artistic projects around the world ahead of the United Nations meeting on climate change that kicks off in Mexico today. The aim of the artwork programme was that each piece could be seen from the sky. It’s part of a bid to convince political types more action should be taken to stop climate change right now.
Canute was a rather clever choice really, given his reputed failure to stop the sea from encroaching, though I have to say of all the artworks created it was possibly the hardest to work out what was actually being depicted by the carefully distributed blue-coat-clad participants.
Anyway, you can see photos of Thom’s Canute thing here.
And photos of a load of other 350 Earth creations at here.
