When an ambulance passes you by, the pitch of its siren dwindles in this… weird meandering sonic ramble. In a less dissonant example, the light from galaxies far, far away, grows redder with the distance it travels. In physics these effects are known as Doppler-shift, describing how wavelength changes when the source of the wave moves away from you.

Such types of shifts in perception caused by the change in distance are not a trademark of physics alone. The Arts evoke similar distortions, as they create a distance from the stark or mundane reality and alters it via the prisms of fiction and creativity. Satire, for instance, will turn political ugliness into comedy. Fantasy will redress a bloody civil war as a heroic saga, a TV show, an arsenal of fire-breathing special effects, and an even scarier myriad of memes. In short, the Arts will take the ordinary and add this special extra in order to make it fascinating.

Is Art good for anything else than just escapism, I hear the taunt of the sceptic. I believe so. I believe Art can tackle important issues, Art-shifting our minds and hearts in the same way as the Doppler effect shifts what we see and hear. I can’t imagine on my own the horrors of Guernica, but Picasso’s paining will recreate an agreeable part of them in the safety of my laptop screen. On another night, La vita è bella will help me feel (a little bit) of what is otherwise incomprehensible.

This belief in the power of the Art-shift is shared by a band of musicians, poets, activists, and thespians as they join efforts in raising an Alert about one of the most pressing world problems. This Alert is not red, as you might expect, but has rather Art-shifted to Orange. An Orange that is more bearable to the eye. An Orange Alert that is way more powerful in reaching the heart.

Text: Vladislav Nenchev
Photo: Anni Taponen

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