Continuing the platform’s own dedication to illuminating the interconnections between ecology, spirituality and culture, the exhibition doesn’t hang its hat on doom and gloom, far from it. In fact, Shifting Landscapes becomes a space of participation and kinship, chorused by birdsong and the tangible silence of the rainforest, where we recognise our indisputable connection with the wider natural world. Here, the show opens our minds to the mutual responsibility we share with the landscapes we call home, shaping this relationship through its innately interactive, sensory setup. The exhibition culminates with Breathing with the Forest, a large-scale audio and video installation by the immersive art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast, offering the opportunity to enter a detailed recreation of the Colombian Amazon rainforest in an ‘open-eyed meditation’ that conjures a vivid sense of reciprocity with the forest and wider world through synchronised cycles of breath.
Other poignant, thought-provoking works at Shifting Landscapes include the UK premiere of Lost World, from Sundance Award-winning director Kalyanee Mam, a personal exploration of Cambodia’s Koh Sralau mangrove forests and their violent destruction. Moreover, the show hosts the international premiere of The Nightingale’s Song, a portrait of the declining nightingale population in the UK, documented through Adam Loften and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee’s lens – a sneak peek of the Stories of Emergence film series forthcoming next year. The exhibition also presents an immersive rendition of The Pollinators of Slovenia, Studio Airport’s cinematic study of the role of bees and beekeepers in sustaining the world’s ecosystems, along with Kiliii Yüyan’s photographic interrogation of Arctic loss and Katie Holten’s microscopic examination of cell migration, to name just a few. Together, these works paint a meticulous, unrelenting portrait of Planet Earth at all scales of life.