-Mont Rouge

The Mont Rouge Project 2007

The very top of Mont Blanc at 4810 m., was were Danish-Chilean artist Marco Evaristti´s latest art project, The Mont Rouge Project, took place. On June 8th 2007 he reached the summit after days of climbing, and transformed the summit of the beautiful and mythical mountain from Mont Blanc to Mont Rouge. Hereafter he declared the independence of the sovereign state of Pink State on the very same spot.

Pink State is a utopian place, a state of mind, that materializes from time to time. It seeks peace, happiness and brotherhood and is based on three vital values: be good to yourself, be good to others and be good to the environment.

The trilogy investigates our relations to nature today. Can even the most inaccesible be made accesible? And which mecanisms are on display when we become industrial or cultural cultivators using nature as our material? Leading on to questions of ownership. Who owns the nature? What happens when nature becomes territory and subject of sovereign interests?

The project is closely related to two former works of the artist, namely The Ice Cube Project and the first Pink State in Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria. The Ice Cube Project was first part of the trilogy, that Mont Rouge is a continuation of. Each work in the trilogy takes off in extreme sites of nature, each of them characterised by being neither easy to reach nor easy for people to live in. The third project will take place in the desert of salt in Atacama, Chile, later this year.