Biodiversity & Conservation at the Glucksman

16 May 2022

Biodiversity & Conservation at The Glucksman

Since it’s National Biodiversity Week, we’d like to mark the occasion by highlighting the fantastic exhibitions that are currently on display in The Glucksman. Both exhibitions are centred around biodiversity and conservation, celebrating the species that can be found in UCC and further afield.

Parklife: Biodiversity in Contemporary Irish Art

The Parklife exhibition is a collaborative project, curated by the Glucksman curatorial team, and the UCC Environmental Research Institute, supported by the Arts Council. Parklife is a diverse collection of works that presents the work of 12 Irish artists who celebrate our biodiversity, exploring how and where different species of flora and fauna thrive in our world. Both rural and urban landscapes are featured in this exhibition, looking at how different creatures have adapted to our changing environment and climate.

It features works by the following artists:

Amber Broughton

Miriam de Búrca

Kari Cahill

Michael Canning

Cecilia Danell

Rachel Doolin

Gabhann Dunne

Martin Gale

Sean Hanrahan

Martin Healy

Peter Nash

Meadhbh O'Connor

The above-mentioned artists depict biodiversity using a wide range of artistic techniques, including detailed pencil drawings, photographic studies of birds and plants, paintings of native coniferous trees, and wire sculpture pieces. Parklife even features a special commission by UCC Green Campus and UCC CUBS from artists Amber Broughton and Peter Nash. Broughton work highlights some of the 451 species of flora and fauna that can be found on our campus and Nash worked on the CREATE project with UCC CUBS, an ongoing initiative centred around climate action.

Karl Blossfeldt: Art Forms in Nature

This exhibition displays 40 photogravures by Karl Blossfeldt from 1932 entitled ‘Wundergarten der Natur’, published in the year of the artists death. Blossfeldt is regarded as one of the defining photographers of the 20^th century. He originally trained as a sculptor and his interest in botany lead him to explore the natural world through photography. He altered his cameras to allow him to magnify plant surfaces to with a degree of detail that had never been photographed before. Each photograph on display allows you to examine the mesmerising microcosmic aesthetic of a variety of plants and flora.

Parklife and the work of Blossfeldt are truly exhibitions that are not to be missed. Both exhibitions are completely free and open to the public. They will be on display until July 10^th 2022, so we highly recommend that you spend an afternoon at The Glucksman and discover the wonderful collection of art, artists, and biodiversity species on display.