COP21, the Unted Nations conference on climate change is currently taking place in Paris, where around 150 nations are attempting to reach an agreement to cap greenhouse emissions and limit global warming to 2C (3.6F). French artist JR and director Darren Aronofsky have used this high-profile event for their collaborative climate change artwork The Standing March.

At a time when protests in Paris are banned for security reasons, the pair projected the images of over 500 people onto the front of the Assemblée Nationale building as a form of silent protest. “It’s someway to symbolize people are watching and everyone on this building and everyone in the world is watching to see what out diplomats do and hopefully they make a change,” Aronofsky says in the video above.

The piece, which features music by 3D from Massive Attack, was projected onto the National Assembly building on the 29th and 30th of November. It will now tour around Paris from December 1st to 7th at various locations which are yet to be revealed.

“The COP21 gathers in Paris while the city and its inhabitants have recently suffered from a massive terrorist attack. For security reasons, marches are forbidden in Paris. But our art piece is a silent march,” JR says on the project’s website. “And we are marching, backed by the Assemblée Nationale, the heart of the French democracy. We must think about our future, the future of our environment and this is our answer to those who want to control our present.”

Click here to learn more about COP21, and here to visit the project’s website. 

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