ART PROJECT (act now! for the future)

The project “act now! for the future” aims to help the public understand, in an artistic setting and a more accessible way, the human aspects and emotions that drive some people of all ages and well integrated in society to engage in climate activism.

To illustrate that, the project has chosen art as the medium, and the act now! civil-disobedience movement as the subject. The project was made possible thanks to the collaboration of act now! and its members. It is benevolently supported as a public-utility service by the Climate Mobilisation Association (CMA).

“How can we envision a better future if we don’t take action?” My project depicts how climate activists are assuming a stance of nonviolent resistance in response to this question. It is about who they are in relation to their love of life and humanity, and how global warming, deforestation and the loss of biodiversity are treated as isolated problems when in fact they are the symptoms of a greater problem: humanity’s disconnection from our planet.

More information: https://weactnow.ch/ – https://cma.swiss/

Activists have an identity, they are normal citizens, and with this exhibition I want to showcase their reasons, emotions and what motivates their nonviolent civil resistance. My aim is to allow the public to observe them, maybe even step into their shoes, without feeling threatened, to find a common ground, united in the hopes and the dreams of today’s and future generations. Humanity deserves a future of equal opportunities, and of social and economic justice – values that are now threatened by the climate crisis that will unfortunately also exacerbate these inequalities.

The project comprises 20 artworks divided into 3 themes: portraits of the activists, actions, and abstract images inspired by the IPCC report.
Each artwork is sketched digitally beforehand and then hand painted on the orange high-visibility vests that activists use during the actions, which symbolise a call to attention.

This support has been chosen as the vests are the garment that the activists wear during an action and they represent their hopes, dreams, ideals, anger and fears for the future of humanity.

The illustrations describe three years of intense nonviolent civil resistance.

Alongside the painted vest there will be captions, the dates and scope of each action and a video of personal testimonies. There will be a series of panels illustrating, through an educational pathway, the movement’s shared governance, its values, the different roles and how it’s not only about actions, but actually mainly about creating a new social structure with shared responsibilities, which appear in the pamphlet with the quiz by scanning the relevant QR code.

The installation is very easy and simple, as the vests can be hung simply with their metal hanger on the wall or from the ceiling with a transparent thread, or any other way to suit the location.

The gilets have inserted an on-chain authentication solution of physical assets based on Smart Dust DNA by the engineering company Native Digital; it includes augmented reality animations visible by looking at the gilets through a smartphone, bringing the images to life.

The installation has been studied to have the lowest possible carbon footprint: everything fits in a bag so that I can travel by train from city to city. My intent is an itinerant exhibition, travelling to the main cities in Switzerland. At the moment the presentation and exhibition is already planned at the Photobastei in Zurich in April 2025 and in Basel at the Durchgang Gallery in September 2025.

As an artist, I feel it is crucial to take a stand in the face of one of the greatest threats facing humanity, which is why I created this project. To name two famous protest artists: Yoko Ono, who has dedicated most of her work to humanitarian social issues, and Ai Weiwei, who was arrested and considered a political dissident for his installation work “Remembering”, which honoured thousands of children who died during the earthquake in the Sichuan region of China in 2008.

Art has the privilege of speaking directly to the deepest and most emotional part of the viewers, without making them feel accused or threatened. I believe that art can, as history shows us, play an important role in helping to bring about important changes for the well-being of humanity.

Claudia Cantoni, March 2025.