The Green Drawings is a project that uses the logic of free market capitalism to limit the total amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere. Current environmental politics put great faith in the free market to govern emissions. The amount of CO2 a country is allowed to release per year is limited, and big polluters must buy the rights for their emissions. Due to the finite number of such rights, if demand rises, so do the prices. This, in turn, creates an incentive for corporations to limit their emissions. In other words, if it is profitable, the market itself will save the world. But for that to happen the total number of emission rights would have to be severely reduced compared to the situation today. The green drawings are green in both senses of the word. On sale for a very reasonable price of 20 € each, the drawings offer cheap redemption to anyone who wants to feel comfortable driving to a nearby store or work, or who vacations in resorts they reach by plane. The complete value of every sale goes to the purchase of emission rights that will then be locked away from the market. At current prices, every sold drawing will buy the right to emit out 1 tonne of CO2, an amount that the atmosphere will now be spared. During the exhibition, visitors can take drawings off the wall and pay for them at the reception desk. A green cross remains on the wall in the space of the sold painting. From a cynical perspective, the project uses the same neoliberal logic that controls carbon dioxide emissions, to enable art consumers to buy themselves a guilt-free conscience.
