As climate talks drag, artist shows way to climate hell

As climate talks drag, artist shows way to climate hell

Egyptian artist Bahia Shehab had one goal at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt: to let people experience the "hell" that is global warming.

At first, she said, she wanted to "hack the rooms" to literally turn up the heat on delegates from nearly 200 countries who have been talking for two weeks about how to drive forward action against worsening climate change.

With wealthy and developing nations struggling to agree on final deals, talks were extended to Saturday.

"There's research that said that people who are in a hotter place, in a hotter room, they're more likely to believe in climate change than those who are not," Shehab said at Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, which is hosting the talks.

But due to security measures, instead of the "hack", Shehab set up a public art installation dubbed "Heaven and Hell in the Anthropocene".

It features two adjacent rooms, one heated at 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) while the other is air-conditioned.

"We wanted to come up with a scenario that is accessible to everyone," she said.

Campaigners the world over have been pulling public stunts targeting artworks to draw attention to global inaction over climate change.

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