Installed

An illuminated sculpture by leading artist Es Devlin highlighting the 243 species on London’s priority conservation list, moths, birds, beetles, wildflowers, fish and fungi has been unveiled in the Tate Modern Garden opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, in place until 1st October 2022. One of two big art installations that highlight our natural world in the UK now. Find out more in Installed Here

The large-scale public artwork, commissioned by Cartier, proposes that the first step towards protecting the biosphere is to pay detailed attention to its inhabitants: to observe and draw them, learn their names, and remember their stories.

At sunset, an interpretation of the Choral Evensong will be sung within the illuminated sculpture by London-based choral groups’ rare and unique London voices, combined with the voices of the birds, bats, and insects that also consider London their home.

Situated in the Tate Modern Garden, directly opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, London-based choral groups of the diaspora will perform at sunset within a sliced open scale model of the dome of St. Paul’s, teeming with Devlin’s pencil drawings of each of the 243 species, illuminated with projection.

During the day visitors are invited to sit within the choral tiers of the structure immersed within the detailed drawings and surrounded by a soundscape of the sounds and names of each of these non- human Londoners. In place of hymn books, QR codes within each of the choral tiers will guide visitors to information and stories about each of the species and the music sung by each of the choirs – inviting audiences to learn and remember the names of our ‘more than human’ neighbours and feel the interconnected web of species and cultures in the city.

London’s 243 priority species have been identified by the London Biodiversity Action Plan as declining in numbers within the city and as priorities for active conservation and protection. Audiences will be invited to engage with London Wildlife Trust in order to contribute and learn more.

 “A dome originally meant a home. The work invites us to see, hear, and feel our home, our city as an interconnected web of species and cultures, to learn and remember the names and sing those under threat into continued existence. The work echoes the invitation invoked by the 92-year-old climate activist Joanna Macy: “Now it can dawn on us: we are the world knowing itself. As we relinquish our isolation, we come home again…we come home to our mutual belonging.”

Es Devlin

The survival of our city’s wildlife is now at a tipping point, so the way we manage our green spaces is all important.

SEE MONSTER, is part of UNBOXED a Creativity project in the UK. A decommissioned North Sea offshore platform has been transformed into one of the UK’s largest public art installations with four publicly-accessible levels. Located at the iconic Tropicana on Weston-super-Mare’s seafront, this world-first transformation aims to inspire conversations about reuse, renewable energies, and the great British weather.

SEE MONSTER Marine Parade, Weston-super-Mare BS23 1BE 24 September to 5 November 2022 seemonster.co.uk | unboxed2022.uk