AnthropoPangaea is an interactive map that brings audiences of all ages closer to some of the planet's strangest inhabitants. Curated and commissioned by UP Projects for This Is Public Space and produced by UBIK Productions, AnthropoPangaea investigates climate change and its impact on ocean life as seen through our ever-increasing knowledge of ocean species.
This digital artwork by Shezad Dawood invites viewers to explore an alternative world map that is determined by and brings to life various weird and wonderful creatures. Forcing us to consider evolution and geography from a non human perspective, the interactive map animates accelerated geological change and presents a version of the earth that refuses a fixed colonial logic. Through exploring the map audiences can learn more about some of our lesser known marine species and begin to imagine possible futures.
The title of the work synthesises the term 'Anthropophagia' meaning to cannibalise with 'Pangaea' the supercontinent that existed approximately 335,000,000 years ago. In merging these terms this work challenges viewers to think differently about our relationship to the planet, learning more about species that have been around for millennia, those we humans have only just discovered and those that have come back from the dead.
AnthropoPangaea complements The Terrarium, an exhibition by Shezad Dawood presented at Creative Folkestone Triennial (22 July – 2 November 22) within the Sassoon Gallery, Folkestone Central Library. Incorporating site-responsive references to both the Kent and Estonian coastlines, this immersive exhibition blends scientific prediction and science fiction to highlight the implications of climate change for our marine ecosystems, and the consequences of rising sea levels for all forms of life. You can book now to visit the exhibition here.
AnthropoPangaea is commissioned for Creative Folkestone Triennial 2021 by UP Projects’ as part of their digital commissions programme, This is Public Space, produced by UBIK Productions and funded by Arts Council England.
About Shezad Dawood
Shezad Dawood works across disciplines including film, painting, neon, sculpture and, more recently, virtual reality to deconstruct systems of image, language, site and narrative. Using the editing process as a method to explore both meanings and forms, his practice often involves collaboration and knowledge exchange, mapping across geographic borders and communities. Through a fascination with the esoteric, otherness and science-fiction, Dawood interweaves histories, realities and symbolism to create richly layered artworks.
Dawood was born in London in 1974 and trained at Central St Martin’s and the Royal College of Art before undertaking a PhD at Leeds Metropolitan University. Dawood is Senior Research Fellow in Experimental Media at the University of Westminster. He lives and works in London.
About UBIK Productions
UBIK Productions is an immersive film and digital arts production company based in London. It focuses on feature length and short experimental film production as well as cutting-edge digital animation, artworks using algorithm technologies and VR development for theatrical, festival and institutional distribution. We produce interdisciplinary works, building dynamic teams with bespoke methodologies for each project from a range of specialties such as 3D animators, composers, editors, cinematographers, choreographers, researchers, sound technicians, coders, game designers as well as motion capture and world building experts for our award-winning works.
About Creative Folkestone Triennial
Folkestone Triennial is the flagship project of Creative Folkestone and the largest exhibition of newly commissioned work presented in the UK. Artists are invited to use the town as their gallery, utilising public spaces to create striking new art that reflects issues affecting both the town and the wider world. Four Triennials have taken place attracting more than 440,000 visitors. Artists commissioned include Cornelia Parker, Christian Boltanski, Jeremy Deller, Martin Creed, Mark Wallinger, Cristina Iglesias, Richard Wilson, Andy Goldsworthy and AK Dolven.
Since its inception in 2008 (with Andrea Schlieker as the curator), Folkestone Triennial has rapidly established itself as a significant event in the international calendar of recurring art exhibitions. It has done so by being one of a small number of contemporary art exhibitions that set out to have an effect beyond the art programme itself, changing the character of the place in which they occur. These exhibitions create a spirit of place through their collection of artworks, through changes to the physical environment and especially through changes in the thinking of the communities with which they work. In doing so, they transform a village, a town, a city, a community.
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