6A2 - OUGD602 - PPP - Natural Selection Exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery

Natural Selection Exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery 

Natural Selection is an exhibition by Andy and Peter Holden and celebrates birds nests and egg collecting. The first room documents the building of nests by different birds from around the world showing different examples of these and the techniques birds use to create their nests. The exhibition design within this part of the exhibition was striking. The use of the wooden poles was a contemporary reflection of a a tree whilst the words on these poles were the sounds that the different birds make. The large scale sculpture in the centre of the room drew you into the exhibition and mimicked a birds nest. The use of the leaves on the ground set the the scene for the exhibition creating a sense you were in a forest making it more experiential. It also acted as a way of directing you around the gallery through the paths that were created within the leaves. This dictated where you would walk, first going through the 'trees' then around the birds nest sculpture to the video installation at the back.

A huge collection of eggs featured in the second room. Initially it was thought that these were real however looking closer they were all hand painted to look like eggs which illustrated the wide variety and types of birds eggs and the beauty of these.

Things liked about the exhibition:

- The intricacy of the eggs which were all hand painted to look realistic 

- The use of different materials within the exhibition to create a scene within the room making it more experiential 

- The exhibition drew attention to the architectural qualities of birds nests and colours / patternation of different eggs which was elevated and highlighted through the scale of the exhibition displays. The natural subject matter was something that interested me. 

- The three dimensional and sculptural / prop aspects of the exhibition brought the content of the exhibition to life in an engaging and experiential way.