“ CoolGlobes ~ Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet ” in Chicago

Chicago, IL - From June-September 2007, the City of Chicago will host “CoolGlobes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet,” an innovative project that uses the medium of public art to inspire individuals and organizations to take action against global warming. The exhibit will feature over 100 sculpted globes, each five feet in diameter, displayed along Chicago’s lakefront from The Field Museum north to Navy Pier. Artists from around the world, including Jim Dine, Yair Engel, Tamar Hirschl, Tom Van Sant and Juame Plensa, designed the globes, using a variety of materials to transform their plain white sphere to create awareness and provoke discussion about potential solutions to global warming.

CoolGlobes is being launched in Chicago because of the City’s leadership and dedication to promoting environmentally sound policies. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s goal is to make our city the greenest in the nation through the promotion of environmental programs and practices, including a bike initiative, adding hybrid buses to the city’s mass transit system, and building “green” libraries, public schools and police stations. Mayor Daley is serving as honorary co-chair of the CoolGlobes project.

The popularity of Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has led to growing public concern about the issue of global warming. CoolGlobes leverages this heightened awareness by using the medium of public art to unite corporate, government and nonprofit organizations in issuing a call-to-action to encourage changes in day-to-day lifestyle and business operations that will reduce adverse environmental impact.

Throughout the summer, Chicagoans and other exhibit visitors will be challenged to implement five changes in their daily lives or business operations to combat global warming. Pledges can be made at the CoolGlobes and Chicago Sun-Times Web sites. At the end of the summer, a raffle will be held to award a Toyota Prius to one of the pledge participants.

CoolGlobes will also feature 200 mini-globes displayed around the city throughout the summer; again, each mini-globe will depict a solution to global warming. Mini-globes are being designed by some of the same artists who are working on the full-size globes, as well as by celebrities, including actor Chris O’Donnell, U.S. Senator Barack Obama and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Students participating in Chicago’s After School Matters Gallery 37 after-school arts program for teens are designing 40 of the mini-globes.

The CoolGlobes project has been underwritten by a variety of corporate and individual sponsors, including Exelon, Pepsi, Medline, Abbott, Toyota and Hyatt.