The vast expansive character of climate change is as elusive to visualize in the popular imagination as conceptual art. 

Conversely, conceptual art may prove to be an effective messenger of the immediacy and danger that we are presented with during this quickly maturing threat to life and quality of life called Climate Change.

With the release of new images and video record of “Our House is on Fire”, the Iranian artists Icy and Sot again drive us to the brutal heart of the matter without quite employing brutality. Their firey deconstruction performance leaves nothing, just a quickening of the blood, a sinking of feet into wet concrete. But is has staying power.

Here we are, contemplating the reassuring framework of normality; the structure of the home, sweet home. Now it falls to the ground, as are our previous frameworks for measuring danger.

The video: The pacing is quick, the reversal of the timeline that adds a sense of mystery and mastery to the brothers’ fox-witted ability to communicate horror in a rather elegant way. The static images are sad and unwavering, damnation, a burning bludgeon of warning that goes unheeded.

Set in the California desert, the brothers say they took inspiration from climate activist Greta Thunberg as she vilified those who have chased only plunder to bring the Earth to this point.

“I want you to panic. I want you to act as if your house was on fire,” she says.

“Allowing for the untouched surrounding nature to be seen between the blazing framework of the house,” says writer Sasha Bogojev, “the artists suggest looking at the wider picture in which the Earth is our only home.”

See the new video tomorrow on BSA Film Friday. Meanwhile, enjoy these exclusive images only for BSA readers.

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