The camera shakes, a wing flaps and then we’re given a window into what London’s Tower Bridge looks like to an eagle. The film by French falconer Jacques-Olivier Travers is one of a series of eagle-eye views (almost, it’s from a camera mounted on its back) shot in London earlier this month. There are also spectacular ones of St Paul’s cathedral and the Olympic park’s Orbit ‘sculpture’ (see below).
The wild trio of clips mark a new art exhibition about conservation and species extinctions. Here Today - as is in ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ - features wildlife-themed art by big names including Tracey Emin, Andy Warhol and Julian Opie, in the form of everything from paintings and sculptures to videos and ‘scent experiences’.
The exhibition marks 50 years of the Red List, the authoritative list of the world’s most threatened species. In case we were in any doubt about the rate at which man is driving what’s been called the sixth great extinction, the list was updated again this week to mark the passing of the world’s largest earwig and increasing concern for the oceans’ largest tuna, bluefin, among more than 22,000 other threatened species.
But Dea Vanagan, one of Here Today’s curators, insists the show isn’t a depressing experience.
“We wanted to be very honest with the facts. We’ve got hard-hitting facts and numbers from the IUCN [which maintains the Red List] dotted about. But we wanted to end on a positive note, on what we can do, what are the great things we are doing. The last section is called Here Tomorrow, with RCA graduates showing incredible state-of-the-art ideas.
“It’s not all doom and gloom. We have to celebrate success stories as well.”
She cites Warhol’s endangered species portfolio, which opens the exhibition. “[One] of 10 species he depicted is the bald eagle, which is one of two species in that set which have moved away from being endangered. It’s a bit of a success story.”
One of Vanagan’s personal favourites in the show is Douglas Gordon’s film of an elephant falling asleep, Play Dead; Real Time. “It’s incredibly powerful, and incredibly moving. You’re faced with the film of a life-size elephant in a very unnatural setting [in the show’s basement]. It’s a bit unsettling but incredible to see the size. There’s a tenderness there.”
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Here Today is at the Old Sorting Office in London from 25 November.
