In the waters of the Monaco Yacht Club, new exhibition The Twin Bottles: Message in a Bottle, were unveiled this month as a symbol of today’s fight against plastic pollution in the oceans. The two large steel sculptures were unveiled
The project The Twin Bottles: Message in a Bottle is the work of internationally-renowned sculptor Helidon Xhixha and the young Swiss photographer Giacomo “Jack” Braglia.
Brought together by the desire to launch an important message condemning the plastic pollution of the seas due to bottles, to give shape to their vision, the two artists decided to blend their artistic techniques. Xhixha works with shaping steel while Braglia utilizes the form of 3D photography, designing an installation which replicates two crushed bottles which float on the water’s surface and seem like discarded waste.
One bottle is modeled in stainless steel by the sculptor Helidon Xhixha and then mirror polished, the other draped with photographic images of plastic waste taken by the photographer Giacomo “Jack” Braglia.
It is sponsored by Fondazione Gabriele e Anna Braglia.
The environmental message in a bottle
This installation, although site-specific, is specially designed to tour other countries due to its ability to adapt continuously to the environment in which it is placed. This was with the aim of renewing its symbolic meaning with each new installation, depending on the body of water in which it is place.
Initially presented in Venice between July and September 2019, in Canal Grande in the water area in front of Ca’ Vendramin Calergi, the installation The Twin Bottles: Message in a Bottle has become a symbol of the fight against plastic waste polluting the seas. Thanks to its message, which is currently one of the most serious global challenges, it has received widespread national and international media coverage.
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A sculpture for Monaco Ocean Week
The environmental installation of Xhixha and Braglia will be the picture frame during the Monaco Ocean Week, from 22nd to 27th March, sponsored by the Principality of Monaco.
A week dedicated to the conservation of the marine ecosystem and to the sustainable development of the “blue economy”, the sculptures come together in an ambitious and provocative project which condemns the current situation of environmental emergency.
It is hoped to bare a witness to the present world we live in, a task that today more than ever belongs to art, called to again exercise its social function.
UBS Wealth Management, based in Monaco, gave its support to the project. A statement read, “[the problem of the pollution of the sea caused by plastic waste] is a theme that UBS very much supports through Global Sustainable Actions and Investment solutions. UBS is committed to move society towards a more positive future through different corporate actions, such as #TOGETHERBAND.”