Cape Farewell at Southbank Centre

“Nothing is more important than our planet, and we all responsible for its welfare: we are already beginning to experience the catastrophic effects of ignorance. But statistics and constant messages of doom are not necessarily the best way to face these challenges. I asked Cape Farewell to join us as Artists in Residence because of the important and unique work they are doing in bringing together the artistic and scientific communities in order to address issues around climate change, in highly imaginative and thought-provoking ways. Their residency is part of our vision for Southbank Centre to become a place for debate through artistic encounter.”
Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre

Three Year Residency

August 2007 - July 2010

In August 2007, Cape Farewell began its three year artists residency at London's Southbank Centre. Cape Farewell operates as a cultural eco-hub at the heart of the centre's creative climate change initiatives. Watch this space or sign up to the mailing list to receive details of future events at Southbank Centre.

Past Events

• SHIFT Festival

  January 2010

  In January 2010, Southbank Centre played host to Cape Farewell's SHIFT festival, a stimulating, provocative and energising programme of climate-focused cultural events, featuring KT Tunstall, Robyn Hitchcock, Marcus Brigstocke and special guests.
  Find out more ›

• London Literature Festival

  11 July 2009

  Double Bill: short film by Lemn Sissay and panel discussion. Lemn Sissay presented the short film featuring his poem What If and discussed the making of the poem, climate change and his experience of the Arctic. David Lan and David Buckland discussed their dog sled expedition to Greenland's Liverpool coast in a panel discussion chaired by Ruth Little.

• Tata Jagriti Yatra

  Dec 2008 - Jan 2009
  

  Vicky Long and a group drawn from the artists in residence at Southbank Centre joined the Tata Jagriti Yatra project - a journey made by train, circumnavigating the Indian subcontinent, with 350 18-25 year-old Indians selected for having proved an outstanding interest in entrepreneurialism.
  View the blog ›

• Uummannaq Day

  9 January 2009

  The most northerly settlement we visited during the 2008 Disko Bay expedition, Uummannaq is the hometown of our Inuit guide Ludvig, and home to 1400 people and 3000 howling dogs. Arctic voyagers Shlomo, Lemn Sissay and Quentin Cooper presented an evening of Arctic stories and performances inspired by Uummannaq and guided by local resident Ludvig Hammeken.

• Slow Food Lunch Club

  2 May 2008

  During the Southbank Centre's Slow Food Market, Cape Farewell joined forces with the Slow Food London team to prepare a sustainable fish lunch.  Alongside delicious food and armed with eco-friendly marker pens, fellow lunchers scribbled thoughts onto table-cloths on the benefits of slowing things down. 
  

• Christmas at Southbank

  Dec 2007 - Jan 2008

  Over the Christmas period a selection of Max Eastley’s Arctic sounds played in the Royal Festival Hall's ballroom as part of their Christmas installation. A collection of fairy tales read by resident artists at Southbank Centre featured a recording by Vicky Long of Oscar Wild's Selfish Giant - a cautionary tale about the need to care for each-other and the environment.

• 2007 Expedition Portal

  September - October 2007

  Visitors to the Royal Festival Hall and Eden Project watched the 2007 voyages unfold via daily video reports, blogs, and images of the art, science and increasing effects of climate change in the Arctic. Graphic exhibitions and video portals followed the expeditions, mapping the journeys and providing a live link to the voyages. 
  2007 Expedition website ›

• 2007 Voyages Launch

  9 September 2007

  Hosted by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, the 2007 expeditions were launched in the Royal Festival Hall with a special maritime send off for the students down the Thames. Musicians, singers, the Cape Farewell youth team and artists past and present were joined by hundreds of onlookers to celebrate the launch.