PALACE OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, SW1A 0AA
LAUNCH 15 APRIL 2024 - TOURING 2024 - 2025
Works from The Extinction Collection, curated by Explorers Against Extinction, will be presented at the Palace of Westminster this April. The complete exhibition will then tour nationally. Eleanor Lakelin is creating a new work incorporating pieces of ancient wood from Happisburgh for the Collection. Participating artists also include Richard Deacon, Emily Young, Peter Randall Page, Andy Goldsworthy, Michael Pinsky, David Nash and Julian Stair.
"We have invited selected sculptors and artists to create a special collection of artworks highlighting climate change, including artworks featuring fossils, artefacts, sediments and landscapes from Happisburgh, the home of Explorers Against Extinction.
Happisburgh is the site of the earliest known human occupation in the UK, dating back 900,000 years. It will be one of the first UK community lost to coastal erosion. As its sand cliffs are eroded, relics of extinct species and early humans who lived nearly one million years ago are exposed. Fossils from mammoths, elephants and rhinos are found on the beach, together with ancient flint tools and wood from drowned forests. They were all made extinct by historic climate change. Extinction Collection takes these relics and uses them to highlight the devastating consequences of climate change throughout time.
The collection comprises 20 works, with those at the centrepiece featuring fossils and artefacts from Happisburgh. Some works will highlight today’s endangered species, threatened by anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. The collection of visual art will form a powerful living exhibit, with the visitor experience enhanced by the inclusion of audio-visual aids, accessed via in-gallery screens or interactive tags.
The Extinction campaign will launch at The Palace of Westminster on Monday 15th April 2024 where we have been invited to hold a private exhibition for MPs and Peers. It will remain there for one week. It will then be displayed at Nature In Art, Gloucestershire; The Fine Art Society, Edinburgh; gallery@OXO, London; The Crypt Gallery, Norwich before embarking on a regional tour, to raise awarness about coastal erosion in the UK, visiting communities at risk of coastal erosion throughout Spring 2025.
The core collection is already in place, donated by some of the UK’s most famous sculptors, artists and photographers."
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