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In April 2025, a herd of animals will travel from Central Africa to the northern tip of Norway—drawing attention to climate change.
Forced out of their natural habitats due to global warming, they will be displaced and traversed through cities and urban environments to meet the people there. But they won’t be real animals—they are puppets.
Along the route, animals native to the countries they are traveling through will join the group, meaning that by the time they get to Norway, they will have assembled around 150 animal puppets.
Amir Nizar Zuabi is the artistic director of the project called The Herds. “I don’t know if what we add to the conversation will change the world. Most probably it won’t. Doesn’t matter. It’s worth trying. But the idea of creating a project that deals with climate change from an emotional stance, from a sensory experience and not from, ‘This is the science.”
And while the herd of puppets won’t set off on the 20,000-km (12,427-mile) route until next spring, the teams behind the project are busy now working on the logistics of this series of traveling theatrical events.
Students at Wimbledon College of Art (part of the University of the Arts London) have been helping to construct the first animals in recycled materials like metal and cardboard.
“It’s been really interesting to use cardboard as material, and trying to find ways to strengthen it that still keeps it within its kind of recyclable image.”
After that, it’s time for the puppeteer and performance arts students to learn how to move the animals.
Zuabi is also happy for The Herds project to be used by advocacy groups who are on the frontlines of climate change campaigns. “These projects, in a way, are our attempt to become useful,” he says.
“The way these projects work is we create a very, very thick layer of partnerships in each place: climate activists, climate organizations, arts organizations, civic society. So we try and create an ecosystem, for lack of a better word.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.