Cape Farewell is a UK-based artist-led organisation that works to respond to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Launched by David Buckland in 2001 with a series of artist- and scientist-manned expeditions to the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

, Cape Farewell is an international not-for-profit programme based at The WaterShed, in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. Cape Farewell aims to change the way people think about climate change, and to widely communicate, educate and inspire action on the need for urgent, and achievable, change. Cape Farewell engages with creative, scientific and visionary people, working with

clean technology Clean technology, also called cleantech or climate tech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant Efficient energy use, energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, o ...

entrepreneurs, sociologists and universities towards achieving a non-carbon society. In 25 years, Cape Farewell has supported over 350 artists and over 60 climate scientists in the research and creation of artworks. For example, Marcus Coates' 'The Sound of Others' opened the Manchester Science Festival in partnership with the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in 2014; Guy Martin installed Forcey's Tower, Dorset, 2014; Sabrina Mahfouz completed her poetry residency with performances at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

; and SWITCH showcased young climate poets in partnership with the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

, Stratford. Cape Farewell partners with cultural institutions (for example, the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

, Tidal Lagoon Swansea,

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

Eden Project The Eden Project () is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay clay pit, pit.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two h ...

, the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

and the

) to create artworks that explore climate change and promote conversation about environmental sustainability.

Expeditions

Cape Farewell uses expeditions – Arctic, island, urban and conceptual – to look into the scientific, social and economic realities that lead to climate disruption. Since 2003 Cape Farewell has led eight expeditions to the Arctic, two to the Scottish Islands, and one to the Peruvian Andes, including two youth expeditions, taking creatives such as

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mo ...

ist

Chris Drury Christopher Ellis Drury (born August 20, 1976) is an American professional ice hockey executive and former player. He has served as the president and general manager for the New York Rangers since May 5, 2021. He previously served as the gene ...

, scientists, educators and communicators to experience the effects of climate change first hand. Discoveries found on the trips are recorded and relayed through scientific experiments, live web broadcasts, film, events, exhibitions and the overall insights of artists and educators. These expeditions resulted in a varied body of artworks, exhibitions, publications and educational resources. Each journey is a catalyst for all subsequent activity. An expedition was made in September 2008 to Disko Bay on the west coast of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, in partnership with the

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton The National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS) is a centre for research, teaching, and technology development in Ocean and Earth science. NOCS was created in 1995 , jointly between the University of Southampton and the UK Natural Environ ...

, The

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

and

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance Earth science, geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. ...

. Scientists onboard extended their investigations into climate whilst artists, writers, and communicators kept blogs posting their response. The crew included musicians

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

, Leslie Feist,

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

, Vanessa Carlton,

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...

Martha Wainwright Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums. Wainwright is the daughter of musicians Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and the younger si ...

, Luke Bullen, and beatboxer Shlomo, comedian

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian and actor. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is the son of N ...

, composer

Jonathan Dove Jonathan Dove (born 18 July 1959) is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birm ...

, theatre makers Mojisola Adebayo, Suzan-Lori Parks, visual artists Kathy Barber, David Buckland, Sophie Calle,

Jude Kelly Judith "Jude" Pamela Kelly, (born March 1954), is a British theatre director and producer. She is a director of the WOW Foundation, which organises the annual Women of the World Festival, founded in 2010 by Kelly. From 2006 to 2018, she was ...

, Michèle Noach, Tracey Rowledge, Julian Stair, Shiro Takatani, Chris Wainwright, architects Francesca Galeazzi, and Sunand Prasad, poet Lemn Sissay, photographer Nathan Gallagher, BBC presenter

Quentin Cooper Quentin Cooper (born 1961, Grimsby) is a science journalist and facilitator, who presented BBC Radio 4's ''Material World (radio programme), Material World'' from 2000 to 2013. He speaks at science festivals and lectures, and works regularly w ...

, Senior Lecturer (Open University), Joe Smith, activist David Noble, media executive Lori Majewski and film director Peter Gilbert. Oceanographers included Simon Boxall, Emily Venables and geoscientists Carol Cotterill and Dave Smith.

Arts programme

From these expeditions has sprung a large body of artwork, including: * An exhibition curated with the

that toured to the Barbican Art Gallery, International Department. The exhibition comprised a range of media including photographic work, video, installations, and prints from a selection of contemporary artists including

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British ...

, Alex Hartley and the novelist

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...

. The exhibition was last shown in Tokyo during the G8 meetings (July 2008) where it was opened by Sarah Brown, wife of then UK prime minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. * A film co-produced by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

''Art from a Changing Arctic'' * A book ''Burning Ice'' * The CD ARCTIC by Max Eastle

* Educational resources for

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

Geography and Science * A UN award-winning

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

* Ongoing arts and events programme.

References

External links

Cape Farewell

National Oceanography Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Farewell, Uk Climate change organisations based in the United Kingdom