Press Releases

Rachel Whiteread, Mark Wallinger and Dorothy Cross are among artists involved in two new programmes responding to Darwin’s ideas and to the islands that inspired his theory of evolution. The Natural History Museum is working on a one-off project to commission a permanent artwork that will be installed in its iconic building in London. On the other side of the world, the Galapagos Conservation Trust is establishing an artists’ research residency programme for British artists to spend time exploring both the natural wonders and current challenges of the Galapagos. Both projects have been made possible by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which has awarded significant grants to each.

Darwin’s Canopy
Ten short-listed artists will work with the Museum on their proposals for Darwin’s Canopy, a permanent artwork inspired by Charles Darwin’s ideas and what they mean for our understanding of nature and our place within it today. One proposal will be selected and will become part of the ceiling of an inner gallery in the Grade I listed Museum. The short-listed artists are: Christine Borland, Dorothy Cross, Mark Fairnington, Tania Kovats, Alison Turnbull, United Visual Artists (Matt Clark & Chris Bird), Mark Wallinger, Richard Woods, Richard Wentworth and Rachel Whiteread.

‘What I find most exciting about this shortlist is that each artist takes a very distinct approach,’ said Bergit Arends, curator of contemporary art at the Natural History Museum. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing their ideas take shape. This commission is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to the fabric of this historic building. We hope it will offer all the artists the chance to explore new territory and concepts, and present their work to a different audience.’

Initial sketches, drawings and mock ups that illustrate each of the proposals will go on public display at the Museum from 4 June for three months and judged by a panel of art critics and curators. The judge’s selected artist will be announced later in June and the artwork will be unveiled on Charles Darwin’s two hundredth birthday, 12 February 2009. The project is part of the Museum’s ongoing contemporary arts programme, enabling artists to develop their ideas through access to scientists and collections, complementing its world-leading scientific research.

The Gulbenkian Galapagos Artists’ Residencies
The Gulbenkian Galapagos Artists’ Residencies will enable up to 12 leading artists to spend time in the Galapagos archipelago to reflect on its unique nature, its historic value and current importance, and the human and conservation challenges it faces. The rare wildlife and dramatic habitats of the islands, their historical role in shaping Darwin’s ideas and their pristine nature have made them a double World Heritage Site. Artists will be invited to engage with the Galapagos on their own terms, to mix with both the local and scientific communities on the islands, feel inspired to make work connected to their experiences and encouraged to share it with a wide audience.

‘The islands have extraordinary resources but face threats from every angle,’ said Toni Darton, Chief Executive of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, ‘from the rapid growth in tourism and population in the past 15 years, to the need to control introduced species, which is why both UNESCO and the Ecuadorian government declared them at risk last year. We are always looking for new ways to raise public awareness of conservation and the issues that make Galapagos as relevant to the world today as in Darwin’s time. Artists are uniquely able to express the many different aspects of the Galapagos – conveying a distinctive impression of the habitat and the threats it faces, and engaging with both the human and scientific issues.’

The residency programme will initially run for three years. It is being managed in conjunction with the Charles Darwin Foundation, the trust’s key partner and the main scientific research organisation in the islands, and curated by Greg Hilty of Plus Equals. Dorothy Cross and Fiona Shaw have already visited the archipelago as a pilot for the programme, and Jyll Bradley and Marcus Coates are due to visit later this year. The Galapagos Conservation Trust will also explore opportunities to present work that arises from the artists’ visits.

‘The Gulbenkian Foundation relishes the opportunity to help initiate adventurous new artmaking in two very different contexts, London and the Galapagos,’ said Andrew Barnett, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. ‘Both projects cross boundaries between art and science and demonstrate the power of the arts in drawing on the past and reflecting on issues present and future.’

Both these projects are part of Darwin200, a national programme celebrating Charles Darwin’s ideas, impact and influence around the bicentenary of his birth. www.darwin200.org

For further information and interview requests, please contact:
Chloe Kembery, Senior Press Officer, Natural History Museum
Tel: 020 7942 5881 Mob 07799 690 151
Email: c.kembery@nhm.ac.uk or press@nhm.ac.uk

Toni Darton, Chief Executive, Galapagos Conservation Trust
Tel: 020 7629 5049 Mob 07506 695416
Email: toni@gct.org

Felicity Luard, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Tel: 020 7908 7618 Mob 07766 348631
Email: fluard@gulbenkian.org.uk

Ends

Media coverage
The Sunday Times, Richard Brooks, 10 February 2008
BBC Radio 4 Today, 11 February 2008
24 Hour Museum, 11 February 2008
The Times, Simon Tait, 14 February 2008

Notes for editors

• Selected by Time Out in 2007 as one of the Seven Wonders of London, the Natural History Museum is also a world-leading science research centre. Through its collections and scientific expertise, the Museum is helping to conserve the extraordinary richness and diversity of the natural world with groundbreaking projects in 68 countries. www.nhm.ac.uk
• The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has worked with the Natural History Museum over a long period to develop a vigorous arts programme. The Museum has also received a grant from the foundation to develop a contemporary art exhibition inspired by Darwin’s book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Expressions (working title) opens at the Museum in June 2009. In addition, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is enabling students from disadvantaged areas of the UK to attend the International Student Summit about Darwin and contemporary science at the Museum in July.
• The Galapagos Artists’ Residencies are being set up to establish a lasting resource for the islands and to inspire artists to reflect the complexity – political, social, scientific, environmental – of life in a territory that is under threat.
• Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK charity dedicated to supporting the Galapagos. Established in 1995, GCT generates income for numerous projects to protect the unique biodiversity of the islands and meet the challenges of how the human population can live in balance with the special environment and wildlife. GCT also provides crucial support to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. To find out more, please visit www.savegalapagos.org
  Lying 965 kilometres off the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands make up one of the most important wildlife areas in the world and became Darwin’s most significant stop-off during his survey aboard HMS Beagle. His observations and discoveries of new species there became the bedrock for his theory of evolution through natural selection. Today the islands make up the second largest marine reserve in the world and are famously still home to the giant Galapagos tortoise, marine iguana, flightless cormorant, blue-footed booby, waved albatross and Darwin’s finches.
• Both the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Galapagos Conservation Trust take their environmental commitments very seriously. Within the project plan money has been set aside for regeneration activities on the islands, to offset the carbon emissions resulting from flying the artists to the Galapagos.
• Plus Equals is an agency dedicated to brokering collaborations across creative disciplines and industries. It is directed by Greg Hilty in partnership with the University of the Arts, London. www.plusequals.com
• The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a charitable foundation with headquarters in Lisbon and a UK branch based in London. The UK branch, established in 1956, has long held a reputation for recognising and initiating innovative ideas. The Foundation’s Arts Programme focuses on supporting artists’ research and development and has been a pioneer in promoting activities in which artists engage with science. Key publications are Strange and Charmed: Science and the Contemporary Visual Arts, Science, Not Art: Ten Scientists’ Diaries, the award-winning Wild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and Signs and Humours: The Poetry of Medicine.