UK artist Beatie Wolfe’s ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ wins Prix Ars Electronica’s “Golden Nica” award
Beatie Wolfe wins the Prix Ars Electronica’s “Golden Nica” award for ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, which premiered as part of British Underground's 2024 Future Art and Culture programme at Innovation Bridge Europe at SXSW 2024.
Beatie Wolfe’s ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, premiered at Future Art and Culture, SXSW 2024
‘Smoke and Mirrors’ uses art to communicate 6 decades of climate data, specifically rising methane levels (Smoke), set alongside the verbatim advertising slogans deployed by Big Oil to deflect, discredit and delay (Mirrors) climate awareness through the decades.
“With the fossil fuel industries maintaining its stranglehold on our planet using well-practised tactics of delaying, discrediting and deflecting (which it has employed since 1962 in the face of rising climate awareness)”, explains Beatie, “I wanted to create a piece that visualises and conceptualises this key aspect of the climate emergency, one that is often hidden in plain sight due to these smoke and mirrors tactics. So by combining atmospheric methane data with Big Oil’s advertising spin, Smoke and Mirrors is about exposing this truth they don’t want us to see".
This stand-out project follows Wolfe’s multi-award winning ‘From Green to Red’ unveiled at Nobel Prize Summit and was the largest art piece at COP26.
Beatie described her win on instagram as a “a lovely surprise”, further sharing that “this project came out right before I lost my father so ground to a halt. So it’s lovely to receive this and my eagled-eyed father did give me the final note on it. It’s been a rare joy working with Parliament to realise it”.
The eighth annual showcase of world-leading British talent focusing on work that explores the boundaries of arts and technology, Future Art and Culture is presented by British Underground and Arts Council England, with ongoing support from the British Council.
Visit Future Art and Culture to find out more.
