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'Floating Earth' Sculpture Deflates And Sinks Due To Bad Weather—And It's Truly A Cringey Metaphor
An Earth sculpture sank and the irony isn't lost on us.
The Floating Earth sculpture on display in Salford Quays, England sank after the exhibit endured bad weather conditions.
The exhibit was on display as part of the Lightwaves 2021 festival in Salford Quays, England. The sculpture was called the "Floating Earth", as it was comprised of a large globe, measuring almost 33 feet tall.
The globe featured an internal LED lighting system that would allow it to be illuminated as part of the Lightwaves festival.
The exhibit showcased the globe resting on a water surface, giving off the impression that the globe was suspended in air, or "floating."
According to Floating Earth creator, Luke Jerram, the Floating Earth was a piece intended to highlight environmental and climate issues and leave viewers with a "renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment."
Ironically enough, the exhibit had to be taken down due to bad weather conditions.
Salford Quays was hit suddenly with high winds, which posed a danger to the highly political art exhibit and led to the globe not "starting up" and subsequently sinking into the water.
The floating earth is sinking! 😲🌍
A rescue mission is underway to save Luke Jerram's ‘floating earth’ which took a battering in this weekend's windy weather pic.twitter.com/Kni4c9NifY
— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) December 5, 2021
Thus, exhibit organizers, Quays Culture, had to take the exhibit down and deflate the globe, leaving it resting in the Manchester Ship Canal near the Lowry Arts Centre.
Quays Culture made a post on their Instagram announcing the cancelation of the exhibit.
They wrote:
“Due to unexpected weather conditions here at The Quays, we’ve had to remove power to Floating Earth and close it temporarily. Please check back for an update about LIghtwaves tonight. We're really sorry for any disappointment."
The irony of an environmentalist art exhibit of the Earth literally sinking due to bad weather conditions is not lost on social media users, who are calling the incident "on the nose" and "a visualization of climate change."
Seeing an earth sinking due to extreme weather is a bit on the nose for me honestly https://t.co/iDQVpEEPl2
— 🦝topher🦝 (@TopherHarrison_) December 6, 2021
It’s almost poetic 😌 https://t.co/1JGp8AId9m
— Sam (@callmejiggly) December 5, 2021
Visualisation of climate change… https://t.co/ehFXbZgAR4
— Theresa Macaulay (@terrylemac) December 5, 2021
I was there this weekend, it was so beautiful I stopped and stared. How perfectly ironic it's sinking...
Keenly awaiting our global rescue mission to save the actual Earth⌚🌎#laughorcry #ClimateCrisis #wearyourbigcoatNortherners https://t.co/NdKX0fc1ri
— Ash Farrah (@ash_farrah) December 6, 2021
bit on the nose as far as metaphors go really https://t.co/dfN05rOFEr
— siavash (@SMinoukadeh) December 5, 2021
Hey Siri
Show me a really depressing metaphor about the future. https://t.co/iOX3Gja1L4
— CheshireBee (@cheshiregooner) December 6, 2021
Feels like an appropriate statement on the world and global warming! https://t.co/j6CR6sZeiT
— Holly Franklin-Trubshawe (@HTrub88) December 6, 2021
Pretty poignant atm tbh
— Space Checken (@EzVz82) December 5, 2021
How apt, earth going to sh*t 😂🌍
— Sarah (@ClassyCleaner21) December 5, 2021
Art imitating life.
JC x https://t.co/5jxTFJZU0a
— Jesus Christ (@ResurrectedDude) December 6, 2021
I was really excited to see this this weekend, kind of symbolises life at the moment doesn’t it https://t.co/tWqIGlSxSC
— Sarah (@idlewildgirl) December 5, 2021
I think this is a much more on-the-nose metaphor than was probably intended... https://t.co/1zpJ69KMQN
— Charlotte Nichols (@charlotte2153) December 5, 2021
Quays Culture announced while the Floating Earth exhibit had to be taken down for safety purposes, the rest of the Lightwaves 2021 festival will continue as planned.