12 February 2008
Climate change to flood Britain?
Exhibition of our endangered coastline
CLIMATE change and the effect of melting ice caps could see the world’s oceans rise by up to five metres. In Britain, a predicted rise on this scale would displace over 2 million people and flood 10,000 square kilometres of land.
Greenhouse Britain is a new exhibition by the eminent American ecological artists Helen Mayer Harrison, Newton Harrison and their British associates, including MMU environmental artist David Haley.
This exhibition at the Holden Gallery, MMU from February 14 dramatically addresses the environmental, political and economic challenges of rising sea levels caused by climate change.
A multi-media video projection onto a giant relief model of mainland Britain will show the waters gradually redraw the coastline.
Catastrophic
“The Greenhouse phenomenon is so urgent, so compelling and so potentially catastrophic, that we strongly believe the greenhouse discourse is vital and will benefit from the voice of culture, say the artists.
“The core concept in Greenhouse Britain is a statement and a question. It is the guiding metaphor for this work: ‘The oceans will rise gracefully. Can we withdraw with equal grace?’”
Taking three key river watersheds, the Avon, the Mersey and the Lee in East London, the artists imagine the challenges of defending the land and withdrawing from the rising waters.
For nearly forty years, the Harrisons have been leaders in the ecological arts movement. Past projects have involved collaborative dialogues with politicians, scientists, planners and communities and focused on watershed restoration, urban renewal, agriculture, forestry and global warming. Their visionary works sometimes come into being, on the ground.
British tour
Greenhouse Britain has been funded by DEFRA’s Climate Change Challenge Fund, Manchester Metropolitan University, The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and The University of Sheffield’s Landscape Department.
The exhibition will tour across England from November 2007 to March 2008 including venues in Devon, London, Shrewsbury, Bristol and Lancaster.
Greenhouse Britain opens at MMU’s Holden Gallery, All Saints Campus, Manchester on Thursday, February 14 and runs until March 14. Open Monday-Friday 10am - 4pm
