Conceptual Art Project | 2012
In the conceptual art project “Sustainable Planet,” everyday objects are ingeniously repurposed to convey a potent message about environmental sustainability and human folly. The piece features a disassembled DVD player, an iPhone 3GS, and a plastic sphere—items that most would consider obsolete or disposable. Here, they are given new life and meaning. The DVD player’s components have been reassembled and artfully arranged to represent the Earth and a miniature city atop it, with the intricacies of the cables and wires suggesting the complex fabric of human civilization. Hovering above the Earth-city is a plastic sphere, symbolizing the barriers we construct in a vain attempt to shield ourselves from pollution and environmental harm. Suspended nearby, the DVD player’s bottom panel takes on the role of the moon—a potential sanctuary or next frontier for a civilization on the brink. The overarching question haunting the piece is whether this “invasion” of the moon offers a genuine solution to our earthly troubles, or if it simply represents another chapter in a long history of shortsighted escapism. The work serves as a visual meditation on humanity’s efforts to find sustainable living solutions, as well as a critique of our propensity to seek easy exits rather than address root causes.
Rabih Borji 