‘The Urban Field Naturalists’ Guide to Lesser-Known Pollinators’ is an exhibition of visualisations, assemblages of design objects and digital augmentation which explore ways to tell stories about the natural world. The exhibition plays with the trope of ‘cabinets of curiosities’ to reimagine the naturalist tradition in the 21st century.
This exhibition is an outcome of the Urban Field Naturalist Project (UFN), a collaboration with researchers from the environmental humanities and life sciences. The UFN Project has two main aims. First, to encourage people to engage with the biodiversity around them through community storytelling. Second, to reimagine the naturalist tradition for the 21st Century. Related to this second aim, two of the design research questions posed through the exhibition are:
- How might we begin to reimagine the cabinet of curiosities without removing specimens from their place of origin? Is it possible to retain the wunder, minus the kammer?
- How might we visualise and materialise ecological information beyond scientific charts and diagrams, into objects and spaces that can be encountered, experienced, inhabited?
A program of talks and workshops with designers, philosophers, scientists, and writers will run alongside the exhibition. More details coming soon!
Design and curation: Andrew Burrell and Zoë Sadokierski, Spec Studio, UTS School of Design
Participating artists: Adam France, Cecilia Heffer, Donna Sgro, EggPicnic (Camila De Gregorio and Christopher Macaluso), Fionn McCabe, GraciaLouise, Katie Dean, Lucy Adelaide, Ross Gibson, Thom van Dooren, Timo Rissanen and Vanessa Berry.
EggPicnic in conversation with Dr John Martin from zoe sadokierski
Donna Sgro and Cecilia Heffer: On drawing inspiration from nature for their textile design practices from zoe sadokierski
