This program calls for 15 participants to observe the ecosystem and appreciate birds alongside Suzhou Creek during April and May. As a part of the public program for Hu Yun's exhibition Mount Analogue, in which the artist fragmented historical narratives of persons including naturalists who were instrumental in building early museums and their categorising systems in the 20th century. The Rockbund Art Museum is located where China's first natural history museum – the Royal Asiatic Society Museum - once was since 1933. And the director of the Royal Asiatic Society Museum Arthur de Carle Sowerby contributed greatly to the research of Shanghai's natural history and took part in an ambitious but unfinished expedition to investigate China’s natural geographies and species through the Shên-kan region organized by Robert Sterling Clark. For the Spring Program, the Rockbund Art Museum critically examines our archive by tracing the established histories and inviting Hu Yun's artistic interpretations to challenge linear historical narratives. Such challenges and disruptions are manifested through artworks such as Untitled (Self Portrait) (2024) exhibited in the West Hall on the 5th floor of the museum.
From November 30 to December 2, 2023, due to the influence of a coronal mass ejection erupted from the sun, the earth experienced high-intensity geomagnetic storms, spurring auroras in Beijing. Geomagnetic storms could scramble signals for migratory birds, causing some of them to land midway without being able to arrive at their migratory destinations, including the carrier pigeon featured in Untitled (Self Portrait) (2024) that was forced to land in Shanghai. The artist took a portrait of the pigeon to mark the entanglement between the small individual and the vast and complex universe, and to question the so-called "destination".
On the day, we will be gathering at the East lobby on the first floor of the museum entrance. Dr. He will lead the group alongside Suzhou Creek to Waibaidu Bridge and Huangpu part to encounter birds such as Grey-headed Buntings (灰头鹀), Black-tailed Grosbeaks (黑尾蜡嘴雀), tree sparrows (树麻雀), Barn Swallow (家燕), Egretta（白鹭）, Alcedo（普通翠鸟）among others along the way.
Guide：
HE Xin is an associate researcher at the Shanghai Natural History Museum. He holds a PhD in Ecology from East China Normal University. He directs the Shanghai Science Writers Association and is a natural science writer. HE has published works including A Dinasour in Hand or Birds in the Wild (2024), The Darwin Code (2023), 43 Rare Animals at National Borders (2022), The Wonderful World of Animals(2020), Journey to the Galapagos(2019); and has translated books including Bird Planet (2023), Why Ecology Matters (2021), and Identifying Birds by Behaviour (2019), among others. He has also participated in popular science lectures such as "I Am a Scientist" (2020) organised by the China Association for Science and Technology and "Me and My Wildlife Friends" (2019) organised by China National Geographic Lecture Series. He has won the Shanghai Popular Science Education Innovation Award for Popular Science Contribution (2023), the Ford Motor Company Environmental Protection Award (2020), and was named an Excellent Popular Science Writer in Shanghai (2019). He has led teams on expeditions to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and South America.
四、五月的观鸟之旅邀请15位公众一起观察、欣赏春季在苏州河沿岸停留的鸟类。
如果您已经参观过上海外滩美术馆正在呈现的展览“胡昀：远山”，能发现胡昀个展所在的楼层，恰恰是1933年所成立的自然博物馆上海博物院（R.A.S.）的所在地。在展览当中，胡昀以拆解历史叙事的方式回溯了20 世纪早期博物馆及对其分类系统的建设发挥了重要作用的博物学家。其中包含了当时上海博物院（R.A.S.）的院长苏阿德（Arthur de Carle Sowerby，又名苏柯仁）和他当时参与由罗伯特·斯特林·克拉克（Robert Sterling Clark）组织的前往中国西北省份进行物种人文历史考察与研究的探险队的历史。
在春季项目中，美术馆通过追溯既定的历史来审视我们的档案，并邀请胡昀通过艺术诠释来挑战线性的历史叙事：包括在美术馆五楼西厅展出的《无题（自画像）》（2024）等作品。《无题（自画像）》（2024）中的主角是受到2023年12月全球磁暴干扰并迫降在上海的信鸽。高强度的地磁暴使北京上空出现极光，造成通过地球磁场导航的鸟类发生偏航最终无法飞到迁徙地。 艺术家将信鸽的肖像拍下，以标记微小个体与复杂宇宙之间的纠葛和对所谓的“终点”提出疑问。
这次观鸟旅程中，我们将预先在上海外滩美术馆一层东厅入口集合，由向导何鑫带领大家沿虎丘路到苏州河畔，行经外白渡桥、黄浦公园，最终回到外滩美术馆。全程预计2.5小时，我们可能看到的鸟类有：灰头鹀，黑尾蜡嘴雀，树麻雀，家燕，白鹭，普通翠鸟等等，由于鸟类出没情况无法精确预计，还请大家合理期待。
向导：
何鑫，上海自然博物馆副研究员，华东师范大学生态学博士，上海科普作家协会理事，自然科普作家。已出版作品有《一龙在手不如万鸟在野》、《达尔文密码》、《国门上的43种珍稀动物档案》、《科学原来这样学：奇妙的动物世界》；译著《鸟类行为图鉴》、《生态学通识》、《鸟类星球》等。亦曾参加中国科协“我是科学家”（2020）、“我和我的野生动物朋友” 中国国家地理大讲堂（2019）等科普讲座。何鑫曾获得上海科普教育创新奖科普贡献奖一等奖（2023）、福特汽车环保奖（2020）、上海市优秀科普作家（2019）。曾带队多次前往东南亚、南亚、非洲、南美洲等地。
