Transcript:
At an art installation at Rice University in Houston, Texas, visitors walk into a large corridor. Light ripples around them. And the sounds of voices come in and out of focus – all of them talking about climate change.
Lozano-Hemmer: “And it’s as though the building or the atmosphere itself were trying to tell you something. … It’s rather a chaotic and turbulent piece.”
The project, by Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and his team, is called “Climate Parliament.”
It consists of almost 500 motion-activated lights and speakers hanging overhead. Each speaker plays a unique recording.
Lozano-Hemmer: “There are calls for protests, calls for politicians to act responsibly … calls for listening to expert scientists’ perspectives … calls for listening to folks on the ground facing and battling and living with the impacts … of the fiercely changing climate.”
The recordings are being archived online so people will be able to listen and reflect on them one at a time.
But for those visiting in person, Lozano-Hemmer was eager to capture the collective swell of hundreds of voices together, each calling in their own way for climate action.
Lozano-Hemmer: “I wanted more the sound of crowds, the sound of not being alone, the sound of people rising up.”
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media
