Recent Event: In the company of animals, 29 November 2005, the Ri

In the company of animals
Olly & Suzi, Tony Fitzjohn, Dr Dawn Hawkins, Dr Steve Baker

Tuesday 29 November 2005, 7.00pm-9.00pm
The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS

Olly & Suzi may have the best job in the world. Their long-lasting artistic partnership has taken them on over 30 expeditions to remote Arctic, desert, ocean and jungle regions. They paint and interact with endangered animals in the wild, bringing attention to the animal's fragile existence. Keeping animals cared for is also the preserve of Tony Fitzjohn, who has lived in the wilds of Kenya and Tanzania for over 30 years, and is the driving force behind Tanzania's resurrected Mkomazi Game Reserve. Dawn Hawkins, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour at Anglia Polytechnic University, also spends a good deal of time in the company of animals, studying Tanzanian wildlife from a scientific point of view.

We're bringing all of them together to find out how each of them, with their different backgrounds, conceive of the animals they work with. Are animals their subjects or their collaborators? How can each of them contribute to keeping species from disappearing from the wild, and what can artists, scientists and conservationists learn by listening to each other's viewpoints? Dr Steve Baker (reader in Contemporary Visual Culture at The University of Central Lancashire) will chair this event.

This event is a partnership between the Ri and the Dennis Rosen Memorial Trust.

Previous events

The Dennis Rosen Memorial Trust was founded initially to hold one major public lecture per year in London, promoting themed discourse events where artists and scientists gather to discuss their own approaches to single topics such as pattern, colour, biography and theatre.

Further details of these events are published on this website:

• February 2005 event: It's Epidemic, Arts and science perspectives on infection from Sander Gilman and John Oxford
• 2003 event: Art and Imaging, what Science can learn from Art about image processing, Dan Fern, Royal College of Art and Dr Anil Bharath, Imperial College
• 2002 event: Living Science, Living Art, A discussion between biographers of artists and scientists, Brenda Maddox and Claire Tomalin, chaired by Lisa Jardine
• 2001 event: Seeing red: colour perception and feeling, Sir Howard Hodgkin in conversation with Professor Richard Gregory - a transcript of the lecture is also available.
• 2000 event: The First Dennis Rosen Memorial Lecture, Carl Djerassi - a report of the lecture is also available.