Environment

Insta of the Week: Vivienne Westwood Gets on the Floor

Fashion magnate Vivienne Westwood rubbed her rubbed cardigan on the floor at her Frieze Week London Keynote speech, and not because a spontaneous mosh pit broke out in the audience. A sensational Instagram post captioned, “Vivienne gets on the floor at her #FriezeTalks keynote lecture,” leads to the website for Climate Revolution, an organization Westwood founded to bring her signature attitude to the battle against climate change, mass extinction, and other environmental issues.

There, the mystery behind her dramatic performance is answered: her speech ended with a plea for someone to help her save the equatorial rainforests by purchasing an elemetary school student’s environment-themed collage for $150 million dollars—the sum that non-profit Cool Earth is seeking to halt the destruction of the biome by 2020. “I DEMAND THAT SOMEBODY PAYS THE [$150] MILLION! to give the money to Cool Earth so that they can finalize their plan to save the equatorial rainforests by 2020.” She said in the closing minutes of her speech.“ She added, “I just feel I am getting more and more crazy, I just think I had enough and I am just getting down on this floor and wait if somebody comes and gets me. Really! That’s it!” And promptly laid down.

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An earlier Instagram post provides a glimpse of what would surely be the most expensive work to come from an elementary school artist.


Listen to the full speech, which also includes notes about the relevance and power of artists today, on the Frieze website.

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