A monumental art installation by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarrón was inaugurated on Wednesday to commemorate United Nations Day in the presence of the artist and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. The installation, titled Enlightened Universe, is an interactive sculpture depicting 70 life-size figures joined in hand around a central globe, creating a human chain of global citizenship, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility.
It was originally created for the 70th anniversary of the UN declaration of human rights in 1948. Geneva was the installation’s first stop in Europe after its inaugural exhibition in New York’s Central Park, followed now by Brussels.
The sphere and spiral that compose the installation are made from stainless steel and weigh 24 tons. The sphere measures 6,371 millimetres in diameter, in reference to the earth’s radius of 6,371 kilometres.
The Brussels Times
