eidolons is a new art work highlighting the loss of local Biodiversity since the inauguration of the Irish Republic, 100 years ago this year.
Technically a species is only considered Regionally Extinct, if it has not been documented in the last 100 years. Since the founding of the Irish Free State, the island of Ireland has officially lost 26 insect species. Insects are the main contributors to Biodiversity globally. The artwork was produced using a ‘free’ AI animation software tool. Due to the basic technology of this tool, these drawings are not completely anatomically correct. As species are continuously lost to us through climate change and habitat loss, the issue we face as a State is that future generations will have nothing to compare these drawings with, and as such they will be lost from the collective imagination forever.
This project was developed with the help of Daniel Álvarez Carreño, Aness Al-Qawlaq and Abdulaziz Alharmoodi of UCD Elecsoc and William Davis of the UCD Innovation Academy. The artist would like to make special thank you to William Fitzmaurice, of the UCD Earth Institute and Dr. Aidan O’Hanlon, Head Curator of Entomology at the Natural History Museum, the LAB and DLRCoCo Arts Office and the Arts Council of Ireland for all their support.
Running time: 6 minutes, 15 seconds
Mark Clare
eidolons
Mark Clare
eidolons
Mark Clare
Over the past 25 years Mark Clare has developed a research-led practice employing a variety of media including sculpture, video, animation, sound, performance, and photography. Throughout his career he has participated in numerous residencies and projects and has exhibited extensively, nationally and internationally; working alongside international curators and artists. His recent work explores issues relating to the impact of human induced climate change and the potential of science, philosophy, and aesthetics to enrich his thinking on issues related to climate collapse and international policies, in order to produce work that keeps our attention focused on what’s going on in the environment.
