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Paul Chartrand: CO2 Sequestration via Trees
Nature & outdoors Science & technology Visual arts
Date and time
Location
Conestoga Mall
Waterloo, ON
Access
Free.
Offered in English.
Wheelchair accessible and has gender-neutral washrooms.
About
Dunnville, Ontario artist Paul Chartrand will develop a new project for Conestoga Mall entitled C02 Sequestration via Trees. The project will be on view in the mall's central intersection during September and October 2019.
Many people in the Waterloo Region will recognize Paul Chartrand for his work Percolator, a hydroponic garden built into a commercial dumpster and installed in Carl Zehr Square for CAFKA.16. Percolator was a living metaphor for the hyper-caffeinated cycle of global energy production and waste.
For Conestoga Mall, the artist has proposed a new work: an octagonal domed greenhouse, built to mirror the dramatic skylight above. Paul Chartrand's greenhouse will be home to 2,423 seedlings, representing each individual's carbon footprint in trees.
He arrived at the number of seedlings by estimating his personal, lifetime carbon footprint (15,116 metric tonnes -- the amount of carbon he will generate in his lifetime), and dividing that by the average lifetime carbon consumption silver maple trees.
By planting 2,423 seedlings that grow into mature trees he will effectively neutralize his carbon footprint. Following the exhibition, the seedlings will be distributed to Conestoga Mall customers for planting.
From 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday and Sunday there will be thematic craft activities for families in the mall.
Links
- Read more cafka.org
Organizer
CAFKA - Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area
CAFKA – Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area is a non-profit, artist-run organization that presents a free biennial exhibition of contemporary art in the public spaces of the City of Kitchener and across the Region of Waterloo. CAFKA is a producer, advocate and educator for contemporary public, interactive and interventionist art practices. CAFKA commissions contemporary artists from Ontario, across Canada and abroad, to develop new temporary art projects that can respond to the specific features of the local urban landscape and culture. The CAFKA biennial includes approximately 25 installations, performances, projections and interventions involving collaborations with concurrent music and cultural festivals and Regional art institutions. Between biennial exhibitions CAFKA presents selected public projects, promotes art education through its public tours and workshops, videos, public lectures and other ancillary programs and events.