Should you happen to find yourself in Metz, chances are you will come across an unlikely sight: namely a massive inflatable of the US President Donald Trump’s head, half submerged in the Moselle, next to the Temple Neuf. The installation, which is part of The Constellations de Metz digital arts festival, can be witnessed until 7 September.
Dubbed “Everything is fine”, the piece displays Trump, (the defiant commander of) a sinking ship. This is Trump against the world, advancing, contemptuously, on a path that goes against all common interest, according to artist Jacques Rival. The artist explained that the piece represents the idea that, despite being gagged and silenced, Trump carries on talking, ever presumptuous.
The head, measuring 4.60m high and 6m wide and made of painted PVC fabric, remains permanently inflated thanks to a blower system. His right hand comes out of the water, signalling the OK sign.
The 47-year-old artist, a veteran in building large, satirical works, has arranged a light installation at night to create “a safe atmosphere with dynamic lighting”.
The soundtrack of Trump’s 2017 speech – when the United States withdrew from the Paris climate agreement – is aired, yet garbled, as if he were talking from under the water. From his immersed mouth, bubbles arise.
A buzzer is installed on the platform, below the Pont des Roches, inciting passers-by to either silence him, or to restart his flow of incomprehensible words.
The installation is part of 14 works that make up the Constellations de Metz digital arts festival, an event that attracted some 950,000 visitors last year.
The work is about raising public awareness and demonstrating the importance of engaging with these issues [editor’s note: the environment and biodiversity], in absurd and almost burlesque ways, explained Hacène Lekadir, deputy culture director of the city of Metz.
Lekadir adds that, at the same time, it’s also a modest message aimed at President Trump to tell him how his attitudes and anti-ecological stances endanger the whole world.
