Oh, more good stuff to look forward to this Biennial (only 6 weeks to go!)
Cape Farewell – Art and Climate Change
Liverpool Biennial
National Museums Liverpool
16 September – 26 November 2006
Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University
68 Hope Street Gallery
12 September – 6 October 2006
Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, David Buckland, Peter Clegg, Gautier Deblonde, Max Eastley, Nick Edwards, Antony Gormley, Alex Hartley, Gary Hume, Ian McEwan, Michèle Noach, Rachel Whiteread
As part of the Liverpool Biennial National Museums Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery the work of thirteen artists who sailed to the High Arctic to experience the effects of climate change. Cape Farewell – The Art of Climate Change brings together – for the first time – the National Conservation Centre, Walker Art Gallery and the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery, interweaving sculpture, photography, painting, video and sound within the city’s historic and contemporary spaces.
Cape Farewell – Art and Climate Change was created in partnership with the Natural History Museum in London where it was first shown from June to September this year. The exhibition has been specially recreated for its multi-site installation in Liverpool for the Liverpool Biennial.
Works situated in the new exhibition space at the National Conservation Centre include Stranded, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey’s 6-metre long Minke whale skeleton and Alex Hartley’s Nymark (Undiscovered Island). After retrieving a whale carcass from Skegness last year, Ackroyd & Harvey applied a special process to the clean bones that slowly produced a covering of delicate iridescent alum crystals. Hartley’s Nymark (Undiscovered Island) follows in the footsteps of the early explorers with a topographically inspired photographic installation of a ‘new’ island he discovered and named in the Arctic. Also shown are Gautier Deblonde’s photographs of Rachel Whiteread’s Embankment, her installation at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall that was influenced by her experience of the Arctic.
The Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street Gallery has David Buckland’s video The End of Ice depicting the 28-minute long demise of an iceberg and his photographic Ice Texts, poignant messages projected onto the blueness of the Arctic ice. Gautier Deblonde shows selected images of the pristine white landscapes of the High Arctic from his phot-essay, The Svalbard Series. His photographs continue outside the gallery around Liverpool as a fly-poster exhibition Also at 68 Hope Street are photographs of Antony Gormley and architect Peter Clegg’s Three Made Places of an ice work created in the Arctic and the chillingly humorous, lenticular artworks of Michèle Noach. Ice Field, Max Eastley’s soundwork of cracking, melting ice resonates through the space. On Friday 29 September Cape Farewell Artists’ Talks at the Liverpool School of Art & Design 68 Hope Street includes artists David Buckland, Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd followed by an evening sound and video event by Max Eastley and David Buckland.
Amongst the collections of the Walker Art Gallery close to Helen Chadwick’s Viral Landscapes and work by Hermione Wiltshire and Tony Cragg is Gary Hume’s painting of a hermaphrodite Polar Bear, a sinister reminder of the effects of climate pollution. Nick Edward’s three films of mythical Arctic landscapes hang next to works by Degas, Matisse and Monet.
Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and educators together to collectively address and raise awareness about climate change. Created by artist David Buckland, Cape Farewell has led a series of expeditions into the Arctic exploring the seas that hold the key to understanding the changes in our weather patterns and climate. Their programme has included three separate journeys on the Noorderlicht schooner 79° North to the Svalbard archipelago with a fourth planned for 2007 as part of International Polar Year.
Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change Published by Cape Farewell to accompany the exhibition’s tour around the UK, Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change is a 176-page publication comprising 200 stunning colour photographs and illustrations. The book charts the experiences of artists who have voyaged with Cape Farewell including Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, David Buckland, Siobhan Davies, Gautier Deblonde, Max Eastley, Antony Gormley and Rachel Whiteread and the work they have subsequently produced. Extracts from expedition journals complement writings by novelists Ian McEwan and Robert Macfarlane warning of the impacts of climate change.
visit www.capefarewell.com