A New Ambassador to the United Nations

Meeting the first non-human delegation at the first Interspecies Assembly at this year's UN General Assembly

By ART 2030

SUPERFLEX & ART 2030

Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: The Siphonophore's siphosome (2021) by SUPERFLEXART 2030

Navigating Our Shared Future

Every year since 1945, representations across humanity have gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to discuss urgent agendas and determine resolutions to move our world towards a safe and sustainable future

The decisions humanity makes together affects the entire planet, but humanity only counts for one species that inhabit our world. What if we invited other species to participate in these decisions?

A Conversation between SUPERFLEX and Professor Carsten Rahbek on the Interspecies Assembly (2021) by ART 2030ART 2030

"It seems we forgot someone"

SUPERFLEX invites an ambassador of the silent majority that we share our planet with, to join our discussions and  debates at the General Assembly

Stills, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX: Collage of the Siphonophore (2021) by SUPERFLEXART 2030

Through the artwork Vertical Migration, humans will meet SUPERFLEX's Siphonophore, a marine species that inhabits the ocean’s twilight zone, a region just below the ocean’s sunlit zone

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Vertical Migration's Siphonophore (2021) by SUPERFLEX in collaboration with KollisionART 2030

Coinciding with their nightly migration to ocean surfaces, the Siphonophore will travel from the depths of our seas to the United Nations Headquarters

A Conversation between SUPERFLEX and Professor Carsten Rahbek on the Interspecies Assembly (2021) by ART 2030ART 2030

Finding Similarities with the Siphonophore

"...they are unusual creatures. But the magical thing about them, is that you can almost identify with them..."

Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Bottom view of the siphosome, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Siphosome move with the current, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Changing Direction, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Nectosome and Siphosome, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Last image of siphosome, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: Zooming into the alien-like creature, SUPERFLEX, 2021, From the collection of: ART 2030
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Still, Vertical Migration, SUPERFLEX. Detail: A Close Look a Nectosome (2021) by SUPERFLEXART 2030

A Society In Sync

Siphonophores look very different to humans. They don't have heads, arms, or legs, or bodies in the same way we humans have. 

Instead, they are a colony of organisms that work in harmony to keep an underwater society alive.

A Conversation between SUPERFLEX and Professor Carsten Rahbek on the Interspecies Assembly (2021) by ART 2030ART 2030

Siphonophores cannot speak, but they can show us their ways of life. Could humanity learn something about how we can achieve a common goal from the Siphonophore?

Trailer for Vertical Migration by SUPERFLEX at the United Nations Headquarters (2021) by SUPERFLEXART 2030

Vertical Migration
part of Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030

8 - 11pm EST
21-24 September, 2021
United Nations Headquarters Secretariat Building

Credits: Story

Vertical Migration is commissioned by ART 2030 and TBA21–Academy, and supported by Avatar Alliance Foundation, Dalio Philanthropies, OceanX, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, New Carlsberg Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, Beckett Fonden, and Danish Arts Foundation.

Vertical Migration was developed in close collaboration with Kollision. 
Vertical Migration images and videos courtesy of Kollision.

Vertical Migration is presented as part of Interspecies Assembly by SUPERFLEX for ART 2030, which features the works Interspecies Assembly and Vertical Migration. The project is generously supported by New Carlsberg Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, The Ministry of Culture Denmark, Beckett Fonden and the Danish Arts Foundation.

ART 2030’s Biodiversity Focus is generously supported by the Hempel Foundation.
Interview Videos are kindly supported by the Danish Arts Foundation.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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