Editor’s Note: This feature and its photos are a preview of Surf, Civilization and Barbarism, an art exhibition you can visit until August 22nd in San Sebastian. And the good folks that brought us Surfilm Festibal 13 are raffling off two flights to Chile for anybody taking part in the#lobosporsiempre campaign.
Artists have historically contributed in environmental and social issues. Bruno Garrudo’s untamed landscapes and Jack McCoy’s personal photo collection of Gerry surfing Ulu’s; Kai Neville’s Japanese river mouth excerpt from Dear Suburbia; Taishi Hirokawa’s photo of nuclear plants in the ’90s, and Iker Basterretxea’s photo of the nuclear plant of Lemoniz with its fabled slab breaking in front–a nuclear plant that never started, but could have put key waves like Mundaka under serious threat.
Such is the case of Eduardo Chillida, a Basque artist from the 20th century who has had retrospectives in the Guggenheim NY museum, who created a design against the Basque nuclear project in the ’70s. Such is the case of Killer Dana, represented by Ron Stoner’s before and after photos of the construction of the marinas that destroyed that wave. Hopefully, this line of thought can help people realize what we’ve done wrong,as well as what we can do to protect what is left of pristine coastlines around the world.
Surf, Civilization, and Barbarism is a compilation of images, illustrations, videos, thoughts and objects that will take the visitor throughout the globe and key surf spots which have been over developed while others still live in their peaceful solitude. It depends on each of us to set up the boundaries to what is naturally sustainable and what can only bring misfortune to a place.
