Artwork by NbSI Artist-in-residence shown in Paris Exhibition
A new artwork ‘How we see it’ by Alice Hackney, the NbSI Artist-in-residence, has been commissioned and displayed as part of the exhibition ‘Among the Garbage and the Flowers’ by the Art, Biodiversity and Climate (ABC) Network, which brings together artists and scientists to bridge the gap that separates the Humanities (and, more specifically, the arts, music, performance and dance) from crucial research into conserving our planetary support systems. The Network facilitates the artist in residence programme across biodiversity and climate research groups at the University of Oxford, with NbSI partnered with artist Alice Hackney. Alice is a student at the Ruskin School of Art, and is a concept-driven artist with a particular interest in human relationships with the local environment. Throughout the residency, Alice joined NbSI team meetings and discussions to become immersed in our work and the world of nature-based solutions (NbS). This created a two-way learning process, with artist and scientists influencing each others’ understanding of NbS.
‘How We See It’ includes collected objects, birdsong, photographs and collected stories of conservation workers and researchers in UV paint. An online interview between Alice Hackney and Issy Key explores the process and motivation behind the art piece.
The Exhibition took place at the 6b Center of Contemporary Art 10-22 October 2021. 6b is a space for artistic creation and cultural dissemination, established since 2010 in a former industrial building in Saint-Denis, Paris, and is an ideal meeting point between urban wilderness and culture, an island oasis in the heart of the Seine. It houses 170 private workshops, in which artists, musicians, filmmakers, graphic designers, social workers, actors, dancers, painters, sculptors, architects work. For the exhibition, The ABC Network took over the center to explore which natural and cultural forces are shaping our collective future and where we can look for hope among the garbage and the flowers, in the much-anticipated run-up to the COP26 in Glasgow this year.
The collaboration will also be featured in an event at the Natural History Museum, Oxford on the 5th November 2021.
The ABC Network brings together members of the Flute & Bowl: an international interdisciplinary collective of artists and researchers dedicated to creating and promoting artistic and ecological initiatives at the crossroads of art and science. Flute & Bowl members include Oxford Art and Science (coordinated by Anya Gleizer and Katja Lehmann), Oxford ONE network (coordinated by Tristram Walsh), the Biodiversity Network (coordinated by NbSI Technical Director Cecile Girardin) and the Oxford Climate Research Network.
Read more about the piece and other artworks in the Exhibition Brochure, explore Alice’s past work, and learn about the ABC Network.
