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College of Fine Arts | The University of New South Wales - Sydney - Australia
The Two of Us | The College of Fine Arts
The Two of Us | The College of Fine Arts
The Two of Us, installation shot
As part of
The Butterfly Effect in the Sydney Festival.
In 1999 the Australian Museum embarked on a research project to clone a living Thylacine,
commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger. Using preserved DNA from a pup specimen in the Museum’s
possession, researchers began exploring the possibility of regenerating an individual from the
extinct species. The public’s response to this endeavour has been enormous. In an online poll
on the Museum’s website, over 11 000 people supported the attempt to clone the Thylacine, where
only about 1,000 where against it.
When Michele Barker and Anna Munster were asked to create work for
The Butterfly Effect exhibition as part of the 2005 Sydney
Festival, they were keen to produce material relating to the fascinating and disturbing issues that
arise when humans attempt to regenerate extinct species.
To exhibit their creation, Barker and Munster inserted their Thylacine ideas into a space in
the Museum’s Skeleton Hall that suggests the possibility of releasing a cloned animal back into a
habitat entirely different from its original one. By using digital moving images in relation
to the diorama exhibition space, Barker and Munster show the potential for mutation and fantasy
that new technologies create.
Location: Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney,
Australia