Jens Galschiot's sculptures protest at Bonn climate conference

Danish artist Jens Galschiot (born 1954 in Frederikssund) installed two large-scale sculptures in Bonn, Germany, during the 23rd UN Climate Change Conference (COP23). The works, entirely self-funded, aim to provoke debate on global warming. 'Unbearable' depicts a life-sized polar bear impaled by an oil pipeline shaped like a graph of rising emissions, criticizing melting ice and species extinction. 'Freedom to Pollute (and Trump)' is a six-meter kitsch replica of the Statue of Liberty holding a torch emitting toxic smoke and a document titled 'Freedom to Pollute,' targeting Western hypocrisy and Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The conference sought to uphold the 2015 Paris accord, signed by 196 nations under Obama, but threatened by Trump's exit. Over 15,000 scientists from 184 countries have urged immediate action to prevent irreversible damage from climate change, deforestation, water scarcity, overpopulation, and extinction. Galschiot believes artists must use visual power to reinterpret worldviews and foster critical awareness.