“Extinctions. Stories of animals threatened by man” is both an art installation and a path of knowledge of Nature and its protagonists: animals and plants.
The Paduan exhibition represents the conclusion of a national research project, coordinated by Telmo Pievani - evolutionist and popularizer - and promoted by the University of Padua, in collaboration with the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin, the MUSE - Museum of Sciences of Trento and FEM2 of Milano Bicocca, funded by the Ministry of Education, University and Research. This exhibition ideally completes the path started with “Extinctions. Stories of disasters and other opportunities”, set up at MUSE in Trento until June 26, dedicated to the phenomena of historical extinctions.
The selection of the animals and the care of the files relating to them was supervised by Paola Nicolosi, curator of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Padua.
"The impoverishment of ecosystems caused by human activities - explains Professor Pievani - is getting worse from year to year and is causing the so-called Sixth Extinction, i.e. a mass extinction of biodiversity comparable to the five major catastrophes that have alternated in the geological past . It is not a feat of which Homo sapiens can be proud. Extinction affects both plants and animals, linked to each other by a common destiny. The destiny recounted in this exhibition project to raise awareness towards conservation which is accompanied by a national research of mapping and cataloging of the many extinct or threatened vertebrates present in the very rich Italian museum collections".
The one in Padua is an exhibition-event, which brings together the sculptures of the artist Stefano Bombardieri, author of the cycle The Faunal Countdown, with ad hoc models and taxidermied animals from the Museum of Zoology and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Padua, from collections of protected species of the Cappeller Museum and the Natural History Museum of Bassano del Grappa.
A story that focuses on 34 animals placed in their natural environment, from the tropical forest to the savannah, from the woods of temperate climates to the flowerbeds of the Mediterranean up to the African and Central American deserts, which must, in spite of themselves, fear man and the his threats.
All life-size, all beautiful, proud and all at risk of extinction.
Ideally opening the path is a model of a Dodo, extinct since 1600, an authentic icon of extinctions caused by man.
Then initial amazement gives way to reflection on the very current theme of biodiversity protection. Gigantic animals (in addition to the elephant and the tiger, the gorilla, the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros are exhibited in Padua), helpless witnesses of their extinction, become monuments to the future of our planet, offering an important example of how contemporary art can provide interpretations to raise awareness of issues of great ethical urgency.
"Other paths" on the occasion of "Extinctions"
photography, author illustration and didactics
Collateral to Extinctions. Stories of animals threatened by man - the great exhibition - installation that the Botanical Garden of Padua offers until 26 June, a series of "Other paths" dedicated to photography, author illustration and teaching will be activated.
The first date is with Le Salvi chi can. From large to small, everything we can do to protect forests (photo exhibition in collaboration with FSC Italia)
The exhibition galleries of the Tropical Greenhouse, in the Garden of Biodiversity, host the didactic exhibition "The Who Can Save Them for the entire period of "Extinctions". From large to small, everything we can do to safeguard forests”, curated by FSC Italia (the network partner for Italy of the Forest Stewardship Council International, an international non-governmental, independent and non-profit organization, founded in 1993 to promote responsible forest management). It is accompanied by a "Photographic Tale of the Forests of Borneo", developed through the shots of the IAmExpedition photojournalists among oil palm plantations and Shorea wood cultivations, in the land of the Dayaks who have populated those territories for millennia.
The project also reserves a space for illustration for children. Protagonists The animals of the jungle (author's illustrations by Sandro Cleuzo).
In the heart of the Orto Antico, in the Ex Serra dell'Araucaria, Sandro Cleuzo – Brazilian, internationally renowned character designer and animator (among his latest creations Angry Birds and the 2017 Oscar nominated animated film, Kubo and the magic sword) – exhibits 60 original drawings dedicated to animals and man, educated in mutual respect (not without some incidents) by the creativity of his pencil.
Finally, the educational initiatives, which have always been the pride of the Paduan Botanical Garden. The entry of the animal kingdom into what for centuries has been a world entirely focused on the vegetable kingdom has stimulated the Botanical Garden to study and propose new educational projects reserved for Discovering the animal world (created in collaboration with Parco Natura Viva) .
These are the first stages of a path of mutual exchange of knowledge which will also involve the Muse of Trento in the context of Let it Grow, the campaign in defense of native species to preserve the planet from the loss of biodiversity promoted by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), by the international network of museums and science centers (Ecsite) and by BCGI, the international protection body that brings together the Botanical Gardens.
Until June 26 2017
Padua, Botanical Garden
image. Stefano Bombardieri, Tiger, polystyrene and fibreglass, 2009
