Courtyard Event
The Conference of the Birds – Curlew and Great Auk: Finding Hope
Completing a migration cycle to mark World Curlew DayThe Conference of the Birds is an act of creative advocacy for nature conceived by artist and animator Sean Harris working with a host of collaborators.
FREE EVENTS – Booking required
Taking the red-listed curlew and extinct great auk as principal ambassadors The Conference was formed in the upland landscapes of north-east Wales. Honed in the project space at Ruthin Craft Centre it became two animated projected works Gylfinir and 1844, which travelled to Senedd Cymru – The Welsh Parliament in autumn 2023, incorporating specimens of extinct species from the collection of Amgueddfa Cymru.
Now the work returns to Ruthin Craft Centre to mark World Curlew Day with a presentation of the two projection pieces in the courtyard, accompanied by a series of talks and presentations.
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EVENTS
Friday 25 April 2025
7.30pm–8.30pm
Talk: Samantha Kenyon, Curlew and People Officer for the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape gives insight into the work that is being done in the farming community and beyond to conserve the curlew and all that it represents as an ‘umbrella species’.
Sean Harris: ‘Birds of Hope and Memory’
Taking three taxidermy specimens and a bundle of crane feathers from the Somerset Levels as focus, Sean considers how we foster hope and wonder. He looks back at how these have manifested in the project and how this thing we call ‘art’ expresses and affirms our relationship with the land.
Followed by a discussion.
8.30pm–9.30pm
Projections in the courtyard: Gylfinir and 1844
Book via Eventbrite here
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EVENTS
Saturday 26 April 2025
7.30pm–8.30pm
Sean Harris: Notes and artefacts from a migration cycle.
Sean reflects on this two-year creative exploration and shares a selection of discoveries with a particular focus on contrasting stories of the great auk and curlew from Wales, Iceland and Newfoundland.
This talk includes a short film presentation from author and anthropologist Professor Gísli Palsson. Gísli’s 2024 book ‘The Last of its Kind: The Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction’ was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Science Writing Prize.
Hope lies in the darkest of stories.
Followed by a discussion.
8.30pm–9.30pm
Projections in the courtyard: Gylfinir and 1844
Book via Eventbrite here
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