Singer seeks 2,000 people to help build a living statue of the 11th-century monarch to raise awareness of climate change.
Thom Yorke wants your help to recreate an 11th-century Viking monarch. The Radiohead frontman is recruiting 2,000 people to join him in Brighton this weekend, where he hopes to construct a "human sculpture" of King Canute. The gargantuan art installation is part of an awareness campaign by climate-change organisation 350.org.
"11am ... [is] a civilised hour errr right?" Yorke wrote on the Radiohead blog. The plan is for black-clad volunteers to descend on Brighton this Saturday, working together to send a message to the world's environment ministers, meeting in Mexico. "The plan is to make images visible from the skies," Yorke explained, "to remind those in Cancun that we are running out of time. We can't keep putting this off."
The planned Brighton installation is one of several events organised by 350.org, including a giant scarab beetle to be built in Cairo and a polar bear in Reykjavik. Yorke's Canute, designed with artist (and Radiohead album-cover designer) Stanley Donwood, is both an odd and obvious choice. Even if a bearded Viking monarch is not a typical environmental icon, Canute's legend makes him a perfect metaphor for the climate-change battle. Also known as Cnut the Great, the one-time Danish king of England, Denmark and Norway is famous for putting his throne on the seashore and commanding the tide to turn back. But the waves couldn't be reasoned with.
If you'd like to join Yorke for this living artwork, you can register on the event's website. And bring warm clothes. Organisers have learned Canute's lesson: the event is going ahead come rain or shine.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/23/radiohead-thom-yorke-sculpture
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