BIG MESSAGE IN A THOUSAND BOTTLES: THE EARTH IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE PLANET!

ELLA VERES PRESENTS A PERFORMANCE-ART EVENT THAT HONORS MOTHER EARTH EVEN AS IT LAMENTS HER HUMAN-PROVOKED DECLINE

by Edward M. Gómez

As anyone who has been paying attention to the potent vicissitudes of global climate patterns knows by now, the planet Earth is in big trouble.

Centuries of human-caused pollution, exploitation and abuse of natural resources, and damage to the natural environment have provoked what may well turn out to be some irreparably disastrous conditions for all life forms.

Has the time come to sound the death knell for our weary planet?

For the New York-based artist Ella Veres, at least symbolically, as a way of calling attention to the human family’s current, shared, very urgent predicament, the answer is yes.

Leading up to this Labor Day weekend’s presentation of her “Earth Burial” performance-art event, in which glass bottles play a big role, the artist Ella Veres had long been collecting and using bottles to make artworks. In particular, she has gathered empty Saratoga Water bottles, which are known for their deep-blue color. About this configuration, above, Veres noted, “It represents our planet’s shareholders’ meeting table or a healing circle or an invitation to talk about bottle reuse and, ultimately, about our planet and the wider cause of saving it that might unify us all — corporations, worried citizens, environmental organizations, and global-warming denialists.” Photo by the artist

Each day during this Labor Day weekend (Friday, September 1 through Sunday, September 3), out on a grassy stretch on Governors Island, in New York Harbor, Veres has been presenting her “Earth Burial” event. This cheeky-serious performance-art piece signals again, as countless activists and concerned citizens around the world have been pointing out for decades, that zero hour for the planet’s survival has arrived.