PERSPECTIVES ON EARTH

Our perspective on Earth has changed radically in the past century. Expeditions and space travel have helped to map the entire planet. Human impact on the world has grown so profound now that we now refer to a new geological era – the Anthropocene. Meanwhile, our anthropocentric attitude to nature is being challenged, and there is a growing interest in the perspective of other living organisms.

In the late-19th century, a plethora of scientific expeditions were competing to reach the South and North Poles. In 1897, a Swedish expedition led by the engineer Salomon August Andrée attempted to reach the North Pole by balloon, but was forced to land on the ice after a few days. Nils Strindberg participated in the expedition, documenting the events with his camera. Everyone died, and their remains lay buried in the ice and snow for 33 years, until they were recovered, along with Strindberg’s camera and negatives.

In 1966, Gemini 10 was launched into orbit around Earth. The astronauts John W. Young and Michael Collins were on board and shot this picture of a rocket with the silhouette of the Earth in the background. A few years later, the first man walked on the Moon.

In 1999, the artist Olafur Eliasson documented the magnificent landscape of his native Iceland in several series of photographs. "The Alftavatn close-up series" shows his slow approach to a lake on one of his hikes. He stopped and took a picture every 500 metres.

Twenty years later, Eliasson returned to photograph Alftavatn and the other places he had visited in 1999. The pictures reveal that many of Iceland’s glaciers have melted. This shows the dramatic effects of global warming on our planet.

When Eliasson’s photos were taken, the relationship between man and nature and changed radically. Our impact on the world has been so great that geologists now refer to a new era, which they call the Anthropocene, after the Greek word anthropos, which means human, and cene, from kainos, which means new or recent.

While mankind is using up the earth’s resources, a countermovement is growing, where scientists and artists approach nature from the needs and perspectives of other species. Christine Ödlund explores ecological chemistry and how plants communicate with each other. Research shows that plants can pick up chemical signals from other plants, so they can prepare for future competition for light, nutrition and water. Her drawing "Plant Interview" presents Ödlund’s studies of plant communication.

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