Torches of Freedom

Smoking like a chimney is seriously damaging to the health of the individual and also has disastrous consequences collectively. This is an analogy that Berlin-based French artist The Wa recalls with his work for the Urban Art Biennale 2024. Here, the smokestacks of the industrial age are emblematic of the anthropogenic environmental destruction that has brought the planet to the brink of collapse. The prosperity and freedoms that many people associate with industrialisation have come at a high price and are illusive. And although the Völklingen Ironworks no longer blows out tons of fumes and dust into the atmosphere every day, as it once did when it was in operation, steel production is still one of industry’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The goal of climate-neutral, genuinely “green” steel is still far away. With its title Torches of Freedom, the work alludes to a marketing campaign by the tobacco industry in the first third of the 20th century, which tried to sell smoking as an act of female emancipation. The work displays a characteristic feature of The Wa’s many years of work in urban environments: it is both accessible and critical in a playful way so as to encourage reflection on the part of the viewer.

Daniel Bauer