News
El Retiro turns its promenade into a gallery of animals on the brink of extinction
Throughout September, El Retiro has become an open-air gallery dedicated to some of the planet’s most threatened species. From 2 to 25 September, Paseo de Fernán Núñez hosts Emociones en peligro free of charge, an exhibition by British photographer Tim Flach featuring 34 animal portraits.
The images are part of the Endangered project, through which Flach has photographed species and ecosystems at risk for years. Rather than showing the animals within vast natural landscapes, the photographer isolates them against neutral backgrounds to focus all attention on their gaze, gestures and features.
The selection installed in Madrid includes very different species and seeks precisely to reduce the distance between visitors and animals that are normally known only through documentaries or nature photographs. The exhibition uses portraiture almost as though its subjects were people, a strategy through which Flach aims to generate empathy before introducing the issue of their conservation.
Each of the 34 photographs includes information on the species depicted, its origin, its threat level and the main risks to its survival. The data comes from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, so the route also serves as a small guide to biodiversity and extinction.
The exhibition was designed and organised by Afundación, the Obra Social de ABANCA, with the collaboration of Madrid City Council and Lunwerg publishing house. Its arrival in the capital was inaugurated on 2 September in the presence of Tim Flach himself.
One of its advantages is that it does not depend on museum opening hours or an admission ticket. Afundación announces it as an installation open 24 hours a day and free of charge, so it can be incorporated into any walk through the park during these three weeks.
Its exact location is Paseo de Fernán Núñez, one of El Retiro's major internal avenues. This makes it possible to come across the photographs without necessarily making the visit a fixed cultural plan: the exhibition is integrated into the usual route of runners, families and park visitors.
Anyone wishing to see it has until Friday 25 September. After that date, the 34 portraits will leave El Retiro, so September is the only announced opportunity to view this open-air version of Emociones en peligro in Madrid.