From the War of Nature
11 April – 7 September 2014
From the War of Nature was Manchester Museum’s contribution to the national programme commemorating the centenary of the First World War. The title is taken from a line in Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’.
War is not a ‘natural’ state…
This project challenged the notion of a constant, continual ‘war in nature’ and a ‘struggle for survival’, drawing on ideas from 19th century and contemporary philosophers and biologists, to demonstrate that warfare is not a ‘natural’ state. This is far from the ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ idea that we are often presented with.
Struggle for Existence, George Bouverie Goddard (1832-1886). Courtesy Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool.
The exhibition was mostly based on the museum’s natural history collection and specially commissioned taxidermy specimens, to explore different types of interaction and conflict in the natural world, including parent–offspring conflict, predator–prey relationships, the ‘battle of the sexes’, food webs and community ecology, evolution of camouflage and mimicry, and more.
From the War of Nature coincides with the nationwide commemoration of the start of World War I.