standing whale,
edward burtynsky
“We humans, as a species, are interested in communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. Would not a good beginning be improved communication with terrestrial intelligence, with other human beings of different cultures and languages, with the great apes, with the dolphins, but particularly with those intelligent masters of the deep, the great whales?”
Carl Sagan
“The Blue Whale is by far the largest mammal that has ever existed on the planet and by some evolutionary miracle it still lives among us. In 2014, an ice event – arguably a direct cause of the warming of our planet and thereby, our oceans – caused the loss of a pod of nine North Atlantic Blue Whales off the shores of Newfoundland; a loss of nearly 4% of this species’ existing population. These Blue Whales risk becoming a casualty of the Anthropocene.” - eB
“Two of these Blue Whales from the ill-fated pod were retrieved by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) after their bodies washed ashore. I have created a public art sculpture entitled Standing Whale - a structure based entirely on one of the two skeletons of the Blue Whales that perished.
For this sculpture, a 3D high-resolution scan will be completed of the bigger of the two Blue Whale skeletons and a true-to-size replica will be constructed of cast aluminum. It will be positioned head down, mouth open; one might imagine the whale to be mid-dive, chasing the krill that is its food source, its immense vertebrae aligned perfectly straight and pointed towards the sky.
To the viewer it will appear almost totemic. This unnatural pose is a metaphor for the control that humans have over the fate of all species on the planet, including ourselves. Humans now shape the world to either allow the continued existence of species such as the Blue Whale, or render them lost for all time.” - EB
project description
blue whale skeleton sculpture
3D design and Visualization of Concept Sculpture
credits
Artist edward burtynsky
3d design and visualization Saarinen Balagengatharadilak
Year 2019 - Present
Status in construction