SMArt is present at the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP20). An exhibition, organized by the Centro dela Imagen, presents images of Swiss photographer Niels Ackermann and Peruvian visual artist Luana Letts. The exhibition is presented as part of the Voices for Climate, a venue of COP20.

In his work Waiting for the flood, Niels Ackermann addressed the threat an overflow of Lake Palcacocha represent to the city of Huaraz. The lake receives its water from an adjacent glacier. Because of global warming the volume of Placacocha has increased, seriously increasing the risk of an overflow that might generate an avalanche that could wipe out Huaraz. Niels Ackermann travelled in and around Huaraz, spent time with the guards who monitor the level of the lake and met with authorities and people to know the real risk posed by Placacocha, what is being done and what the people of Huaraz think about this present danger. In his work, we see how the city lacks an emergency plan in case of an overflow of Palcacocha and remains indolent to the threat, as authorities prefer temporary solutions instead of seeking for a permanent way to solve the problem.

On the other hand, Luana Letts visited Sierre in Switzerland and met with specialists in the challenges of mountain regions. Her work, Constant transformation, addresses the chain of transformations of the Swiss Alps that spring out of the tourism driven construction of holiday chalets. This has all kinds of consequences, from the use of natural resources to the transformation of the landscape, building security infrastructure, water management, etc. From a metaphorical perspective, Letts let us see how the beautiful landscape seen as a tourist attraction is transformed.

2 – 12 December 2014

10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Varnishing 7 December 2014 – 8.00 pm

Voices for Climate, zona vivero, Jockey Club del Perú

Free entry