Art Basel Hong Kong is in full swing this week, with artists, gallerists, collectors, and patrons gathering at the city’s center to celebrate. For the first time ever, the environmental organization Parley for the Oceans is joining in the festivities with an aesthetically cool, functionally pragmatic activation.
Courtesy of Peter Schuyff and Parley for the Oceans.
Parley for the Oceans Brings Together Art and Sustainability
On view until March 30 are Parley’s limited-edition ocean tote bags, featuring works by leading contemporary artists including Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Katharina Grosse, Pipilotti Rist, Doug Aitken, Walton Ford, and more. Each bag is made from approximately five plastic bottles, recovered from remote islands, waters, and coastlines by Parley’s Global Cleanup Network. These totes are being showcased alongside videos, imagery, and art that communicate the urgency of the environmental crisis and the reality of the world in which we all live.
These efforts all fall under Parley’s new initiative, “Art for the Oceans,” which is also centered on fundraising: for every dollar donated through the program, Parley’s Global Cleanup Network will remove a pound of plastic from open waters. Parley also will continue to support education and ocean programs designed to further the organization’s mission of upcycling plastic waste and making way for cleaner oceans.
Courtesy of Walton Ford and Parley for the Oceans.
Sustainable Artwork at Art Basel Hong Kong
With a long-standing history of collaborating with leading contemporary artists and art galleries, Parley is hosting guided tours of Art Basel Hong Kong which highlight key artworks around the theme of sustainability and invite viewers to discover why art, and artists, are the perfect drivers for change.
Cyrill Gutsch, founder of Parley for the Oceans, said, “We started Parley over a decade ago and have built a global organization to protect our oceans, the climate’s regulating lifeforce. Now we are returning to where it all started — to Art Basel, to the art community. And it is here, where we are asking for support to rapidly grow our global impact and scale our programs. This might be the last moment where we can still turn things around, where we can still prevent the collapse of this magical blue planet we all call home.”
Courtesy of Jenny Holzer and Parley for the Oceans.
What is Parley for the Oceans?
Parley for the Oceans is a new form of environmental organization that brings together creators, thinkers, and leaders across brands, governments, creative communities, and environmental groups to raise awareness for the beauty and fragility of the oceans and collaborate on projects that can end their destruction. What started as a collaboration space has fast become an award-winning global movement and network with its multidisciplinary approach and Parley AIR Strategy (Avoid, Intercept, Redesign).
Parley works to accelerate solutions to marine plastic pollution, climate change, and overfishing with operations in over 28 countries. Parley understands current plastic is a design failure, sees the long-term solution in a Material Revolution. To catalyze awareness and fund initiatives focused on direct impact, education, material science, and eco-innovation. Parley introduced Ocean Plastic®, a catalyst material made from intercepted marine plastic waste to replace virgin plastic while raising awareness and funds that empower leaders in the sports, fashion and luxury industries to transform products into symbols of change. Parley has formed with major partners including adidas, Anheuser Busch InBev (Corona), American Express, the Republic of the Maldives, the United Nations, World Bank, British Fashion Council; alliances and collaborations spanning the worlds of science, art, fashion, design, entertainment, sports, space and ocean exploration.
Parley for the Oceans was founded in the heart of the art community, with early supporters like Julian Schnabel who created the Parley logo and hosted the first Parley talk at his home, Parley has since expanded its program and collaborated on projects ranging from artist unique works and site-specific installations like Doug Aitken’s Underwater Pavilions, to eco-innovative unique surfboards with leading contemporary artists such as Katharina Grosse, Kenny Scharf and Ed Ruscha. Parley launched a limited edition series of artist bags made from Parley Ocean Plastic which included collaborations with: Doug AItken, Walton Ford, Jenny Holzer, Bharti Kher, David LaChapelle, Pipilotti Rist, Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel and Rosemarie Trockel. —Source
Courtesy of Julian Schnabel and Parley for the Oceans.
