Newfoundland Sky, Beth Derbyshire, 2009. © Beth Derbyshire
Two leading environmental organisations have teamed up with artists Beth Derbyshire and Ulrike Haage to create a live film performance project at the Eden Project that documents a disappearing landscape.
Cape Farewell and the Eden Project have collaborated with Derbyshire on a trilogy of short films called Anthem exploring the impact man is making on the global landscape that uses stunning imagery from the Arctic, Newfoundland and the United Kingdom.
The films are accompanied by the haunting sounds of Haag’s musical score and the vocal ensemble Stile Antico.
Anthem uses the metaphors of landscape and song to explore ideas around the issues of nationality, identity and language and borrows from sources such as national anthems, ancient land names and etymology.
Scottish Coast, Beth Derbyshire, 2009. © Beth Derbyshire
Beth Derbyshire said: “Migration due to climate change has already begun and will continue to accelerate. I wanted to explore these ideas in the Arctic, a place without borders, a kind of no mans land.”
Derbyshire joined the 2007 Cape Farwell expedition to the High Arctic and sailed from Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean to the east Coast of Greenland and on to the north coast of Iceland.
Footage from the voyage will be shown for the first time in Anthem at the Eden Project as a platform to help people understand the environment and climate change issues that the global community is facing.
The premier of Anthem will take place on Saturday November 14 2009 with two performances at 6.30pm and 8.30pm.
For more information go to the Anthem website.
