artist paola pivi shares a message of hope with our readers during coronavirus lockdown

artists share messages of hope: as parts of the world continue to endure lockdown conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, designboom has reached out to artists to share messages of hope with our readers worldwide. since beginning the initiative, dedications have been kindly contributed to us by olafur eliasson, david shrigley, julian charrière, doug aitken, monica bonvicini, tomás saraceno, tony oursler, and ryan gander.

italian artist paola pivi now dedicates the following message, and images of her signature bears in black. ‘as these new sudden laws and rules really affect our private amounts of freedom and the life or death of those around us, it really gives us an option to open our eyes and see how the rules of the governing bodies always really affect our freedoms and life or death situations,’ paola pivi shares. ‘keep your eyes and ears open, keep them open always in the future too.’

the black bears form part of ‘we are the alaskan tourists’ — an exhibition at the ARKEN museum in denmark currently closed due to coronavirus, which has been unable to go on view.

‘we are the alaskan tourists‘ at the ARKEN comprises a cast of fifteen polar bears covered in brightly colored feathers that cavort inside the museum’s 150-meter long exhibition space. as visitors approach the bears, their animal features become clearer – pitch-black oval eyes, long sharp claws and pointed white teeth. with her rendition of the polar bear, pivi challenges usual views on the arctic predator. how do we perceive the polar bear when its thick white fur has been replaced by light feathers in gaudy colors – and what new meanings does this add to such a well-known animal?

all images: we are the alaskan tourists at ARKEN
photos by david stjernholm, courtesy the artist & perrotin