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LOVE YOUR PLANET – REAL LIGHT

World premiere – SOS World TOUR to 8 Continents

For the first time ever, an artwork on Earth will be photographed from space: Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter's projection of giant SOS signs onto glaciers. This event coincides with the UN Year of Glacier Conservation and the global melting of glaciers to call for action. 

70 years. 2025 was the UN Year of Glacier Conservation. In approximately 70 years, 80% of the glaciers in the Alps will have disappeared, with 50% gone already in 20 years, and a critical mass lost worldwide. This means that the water stored in them and the cooling function of glaciers for the Earth will also be lost. 70 years is the average age of a human being on our planet. A person born in 2025 has a challenging future ahead of them.

The Vision – SOS WORLD TOUR. I will travel with a film and photography team to eight continents and project the word SOS onto a selected glacier on each continent, making it large enough that, if possible, it can be seen from space and photographed from there by satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).

World premiere. This campaign combines art with space and earth sciences for the first time. For the first time, art on Earth is being photographed from space, and this while it is being created. This world premiere is an incredible innovation from Switzerland, realized by Swiss scientists, where satellites and the ISS must be coordinated with the projections from SOS onto the glaciers, taking into account the moon, weather, times, and flight paths. ETH Zurich is the science supporter of the tour and, through its ETH Space Science and Technology department, is organizing the satellites and the ISS space station for the images from space.

Swiss Made. With this “Swiss Made” campaign, I also want to showcase our innovative Switzerland and the country's World-leading expertise in space, earth sciences, and glaciology, and literally put it in the spotlight.

Meaning of SOS. After the sinking of the Titanic, it was decided to have a standard distress signal for shipping. During the Titanic disaster, it was not clear to the surrounding ships whether the radio messages received from the Titanic were genuine distress calls or just a problem. SOS is now clear to everyone and means: “SAVE OUR SOULS.” SOS is known worldwide, even among young people, and can be recognized from different perspectives, even when read backwards. This makes it the perfect signal to send this message into space. In this campaign, however, SOS also stands for “SAVE OUR SPECIES” for me. And species stands for us humans, all living beings, plants, and of course the glaciers.

Results and media. Based on discussions with various partners, scientists, art patrons, philanthropists, cultural institutions, foundations, authorities, and government representatives, we are all convinced that this will generate enormous global media coverage and attract worldwide attention. We cannot influence what each individual person will make of it. But we know that it will trigger something in the right direction. The goal is to spark a worldwide movement in favour of our planet Earth and mindfulness on the part of every individual.

Communication through art and exhibtion. After the tour, these light art images and film footage will be used to create an informative art exhibition, which will travel around the globe as a traveling exhibition to share knowledge and science for our future.

Film. We will use the film footage to produce a feature film and a 9-episode TV series, which will be offered to streaming service providers such as Netflix, Warner, National Geographic, etc.

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