Key Ideas (Artist's Statement)
In cooperation with the LWL-Museum of Natural History in Muenster we created an animated short for a new exhibition on regional biodiversity.
Nature conservation often pursues the idea of restoring nature to its original state – without ever asking which kind of nature is it precisely that we intend to restore. Interestingly, conservative positions take plant eaters out of the equation which leads to a nature concept only plausible with plant-eating animals absent. Would it not be time to literally address the elephant in the room?
Production Process
Based on an intense research phase and a close correspondence with scientists working on the issue we developed an individual narrational approach: In a fashion suitable to old and young museum visitors alike we introduce the scientific theory on giant plant eaters influencing their environment, accompanied by a strong emphasis on the discourse being waged among scientists. The scientists’ tangibly strong commitment to their case inspired us to incorporate them as characters in our story.
In order to differentiate between theoretical concepts and their actual application we developed a module-based visual style enabling us to take a closer look at certain aspects and literally extend them to the bigger picture again.
Awards:
Global Illustration Award 2017: Honorary Mention for Scientific Illustration
Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2018: Finalist
Fast Forward Science 2018: 2nd Place in ”Scitainment" category
