Liverpool

Art & Climate Change at the Liverpool Biennial 2006

16 September - 26 November 2006

Liverpool School of Art and Design, Walker Art Gallery, National Conservation Centre, Liverpool Cathedral and the Albert Dock

For the Liverpool Biennial 2006, Cape Farewell - Art & Climate Change brought together - for the first time - the Liverpool School of Art and Design, Walker Art Gallery, National Conservation Centre, Liverpool Cathedral and the Albert Dock, interweaving sculpture, photography, painting, video and sound within the city's historic and contemporary spaces. Art & Climate Change was created in partnership with the Natural History Museum in London and is designed to deepen our understanding of climate change. Download a quick reference map showing all galleries, locations and site information (click here for help opening PDF documents).
Download exhibition map › PDF

Liverpool School of Art and Design

David Buckland, Peter Clegg, Gautier Deblonde, Max Eastley, Antony Gormley, Ian McEwan, Michèle Noach

Liverpool John Moores University hosted Cape Farewell in their 68 Hope Street Gallery, part of the Liverpool School of Art and Design. 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 blue of Arctic ice - contrast sharply with the chillingly humorous lenticular artworks of Michèle Noach. Photographs of Antony Gormley and architect Peter Clegg's Three Made Places show their ice work created in-situ in the Arctic. Ice Field, Max Eastley's soundwork of cracking, melting ice resonates eerily through the space. Gautier Deblonde's photo-essay from The Svalbard Series presents the pristine white landscapes of the High Arctic while text by Ian McEwan provides an urgent call to climate action. 

The exhibition was curated by Colin Fallows and ran 12 September to 6 October 2006. Max Eastley is a Visiting Research Fellow at Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University. Antony Gormley is an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.

Artists' talks and performances

On Friday 29 September 68 Hope Street Gallery hosted a day of artists' talks and performances. Artists Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, David Buckland and Max Eastley discuss their experiences in the Arctic and the work they have produced for Cape Farewell – Art & Climate Change. The talks were followed by an evening sound event by Max Eastley. These talks and performance were free and open to the public.
www.ljmu.ac.uk ›

National Conservation Centre

Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, David Buckland, Gautier Deblonde, Alex Hartley, Rachel Whiteread

In the new exhibition space at the National Conservation Centre is Stranded, Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey's 6-metre long Minke whale skeleton. 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. Alex 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. Gautier Deblonde's photographs of Rachel Whiteread's Embankment show her impressive installation in Tate Modern’s cavernous Turbine Hall that was influenced by her experience of the High Arctic. Further photographs from David Buckland’s Ice Texts series can be viewed at the National Conservation Centre, in addition to those at the Liverpool School of Art and Design, 68 Hope Street Gallery. Exhibition ran 16 September - 26 November 2006.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/conservation/ ›

Walker Art Gallery

Nick Edwards, Gary Hume

Within the Walker Art Gallery, close to Helen Chadwick’s Viral Landscapes and work by Hermione Wiltshire and Tony Cragg, is Gary Hume’s painting Hermaphrodite Polar Bear, a sinister reminder of climate-related environmental damage. 80° 05’N 16°44’E; Ultima Thule; Fata Morgana, Nick Edwards’ three films of mythical Arctic landscapes, hang amongst the gallery’s collection of Impressionist works by Degas, Matisse and Monet. Exhibition ran 16 September – 26 November 2006.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker ›

Liverpool Cathedral

Siobhan Davies

Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral enhances the ephemeral, fragile grace of choreographer Siobhan Davies’ Endangered Species. A projection of dancer Sarah Warsop, in an unusual costume of rods created by fashion designer Jonathan Saunders, moves gracefully inside a museum display case, at first liberated but then finally extinguished by her increasingly cumbersome attire. Exhibition ran 16 September – 26 November 2006.
www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk ›

Albert Dock

Cape Farewell's outdoor modular exhibition

Adjacent to Tate Liverpool, in the Mermaid Court on the Albert Dock, stands an outdoor modular exhibition telling the story of Cape Farewell with images of the Arctic expeditions and artworks and carrying current climate information. The exhibition is accompanied by a solar-powered soundscape created by Max Eastley. Exhibition ran 16 September – 20 October 2006.
www.albertdock.com ›

Cape Farewell - Art & Climate Change was created in partnership with the Natural History Museum, and has been made possible with support from Arts Council England, Cape Farewell's major arts funder. Also supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, The Bromley Trust, Toshiba, IXOS and plusequals, and our Liverpool partners National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool Cathedral and Albert Dock Liverpool.

Liverpool Biennial 2004

Cape Farewell also took part in the Liverpool Biennial 2004, with artists Max Eastley and David Buckland exhibiting photographs and sound recordings made on the 2003 voyage at the John Moore's University Gallery from 20 September - 1 October 2004.