By Andy Winfield
Fire has become a terrifying normality for many people around the world; a natural inclination for us here in the UK is to watch from afar and be thankful it isn’t happening to us. We all do it, look at the hurricanes, tornados, and fires with a furrowing of our brows and concern but deep down the safety for ourselves is at our core. In Tipping Point, an installation by Luke Jerram in early October this year, visitors were plunged into the reality of communities abroad by creating a simulation of a forest fire right here in the Botanic Garden.
The sound was crisp from the speakers, the crackles of the fire and the flickering of the electric lights combined, while smoke drifted slowly across the paths and hidden voices talked about when the fire hit their whole world, how they felt, the fear and the loss. Dan Jones created a soundscape that followed visitors as they walked, chilling noises of animals punctuated the fire. The lulls were ominously near silent, until a roar as the fire caught, the heightened lights and smoke caused visitors to jump catching them unawares. Smoke hung around in the evening air; some visitors found it disorientating with one saying that despite knowing the Garden very well, it made them question their whereabouts; while there were paths, lights, and stewards showing the way around the Garden, in a real fire they wouldn’t have known where to go. As the day turned to night, the installation became even more dramatic, the oranges and yellows dancing off the silhouetted foliage with the smoke allowing everyone an enclosed space to hear the stories.
The central theme running through this exhibition was how financial institutions, and in particular Pensions, fund this environmental catastrophe. Make My Money Matter, a charity you may know from their Oblivia Coalmine advertising campaign, contributed to this installation financially, and their message opened the eyes of the public. On site to deliver that message, as well as to discuss the work they’re doing to mitigate the climatic changes, were representatives from the University’s Cabot Institute for the Environment, the Met Office, and researchers from across the University, and MSc students, who gained experience applying their skills in science communication with members of the public. They talked about visitors being moved by the installation, of it being “beautiful but scary at the same time”, of wanting to change this but feeling helpless to effect change. This is a common feeling that we all have when thinking of global issues, but as Cabot Institute’s Josie Maskell explains, “as individuals we have much more power than we think, making changes to our pensions and bank accounts, reducing our energy usage, and eating less meat are a few ways we can all have a big impact.” These may seem like small things, but they’re not; that feeling of problems being over there rather than over here is a natural one, but everything that happens impacts all of us, and so it is with positive actions.
This event was put together quickly and was labour intensive; at the end of the last night, at 10:30pm, I was very tired when, looking up, I saw two shooting stars; I now know from a meteor shower called Draconid. It seemed a fitting tribute to the weekend and, as a flurry of wet autumn leaves landed on my face on the way to the ground, a reminder that we’re a small but very special part of a big universe.
To access frequently asked questions about forest fire, reports and interactive maps put together by climate academics, click here. If you want to make a change, you can visit the Make My Money Matter page here, where you will find out how our financial decisions effect deforestations and forest fires, and what we can do to make a difference.
Promotional reel posted on Instagram 5/10/2024.
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