Museum of 1 October 2010 – 6 March 2011 1 October 2010 – 6 March 2011

A display of 14 arresting photomontages imagining Didier Madoc-Jones said: ‘We want to create a space in which people can consider how climate change may affect their lives. We are committed to how London could be affected by climate change will making beautiful and arresting images, which tell their own story. We have be on display at the Museum of London from 1 October deliberately chosen ‘postcard’ shots of London, places that all of us are 2010 to 6 March 2011. familiar with. By focusing our creative energy on these well known panoramas the images have taken on a life of their own. Even we were surprised by the Like postcards from the future, familiar views of the way the story unfolded as the scene was created. Each picture has become a mini soap opera, alive with colour, drama, triumph and adversity as our city capital have been digitally transformed by illustrators is transformed and Londoners adapt to meet this change.’ Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones. They bring home Robert Graves said: ‘We endeavour to make the works both flawless and the full impact of global warming, food scarcity, rising beautiful. When the images are flawless the medium becomes transparent sea levels and how all Londoners will need to innovate and the stories become clear; when they are beautiful you are encouraged and inspired by looking at them. The creative and production process takes and adapt to survive. several weeks for each image. Concepts and ideas they are tested with Parliament Square put to work as a rice paddy, rough mock ups and background shots. Once we feel confident that an image will work we rebuild from scratch. Most require using a combination ice skating down the Thames, Buckingham Palace of 3D software, background photography and digital painting in Photoshop. surrounded by a sea of shanty housing and the Gherkin Final hurdles involve checking that the pieces stand up visually and occupied by thousands of eco-refugees are among the technically as large scale exhibition images.’ shocking realities we could face. Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor for Greenpeace, said: ‘If we’re going to tackle climate change, then we’re going to have to tackle our addiction to oil. And forget about Houston or Dallas, there’s a real oil town just down the Cathy Ross, Director of Collections and Learning at the Museum of road from the Museum of London. The money in the City of London, and in London, said: ‘For most of us climate change is the kind of thing that might many people’s pension funds, keeps the oil flowing, not just in the Gulf of happen somewhere else. These beautiful pictures of London, luminous on Mexico, but in the Arctic, west of Shetland and in the tar sands of Canada. lightboxes, have enormous impact and really challenge the viewer to confront If we’re going to keep oil out of the most fragile environments on earth, then how climate change could shape London and their own life in the city.’ we’re going to have get oil out of the City as well.’

The display and related events form part of the Mayor’s Story of London Festival and the events are funded by Renaissance London. The exhibition was designed by Madoc Architecture. Postcards from the Future, a postcard booklet of the photomontages [email protected]/020 7814 5511 will be available in the Museum of London shop for £8. The Mall – royal power That archetypal British driveway the Mall, has become London as Venice a wind-farm. Wind turbines tower over flags, as the desperate quest for renewable energy takes precedence London has become uninhabitable. Every year spring tides over any remaining notions of Britishness. Cars? surge through the Thames Barrier, making London the new Now what on earth were they? Venice. But whereas the city of gondolas has come to terms with water, London is overwhelmed. Wind farms are usually associated with bleak moors, distant hillsides or far away patches of sea. But will we This image shows the impact of six-metre flooding, the level see more in our own back yards, even royal ones? required to breach the Thames Barrier. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Background photography © Jason Hawkes

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 Piccadilly Circus – a haven of calm London’s busiest urban hub becomes a haven of calm as water levels rise ever higher. Water lilies, fish and wind turbines drift quietly in the breeze, amid empty buildings which are only left standing to support the infrastructure of power generation. Civilisation as we know it has gone. As land masses around the globe sink, so water levels are pushed even higher. London remains vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Hyde Park – palm oil London’s open spaces resemble tropical plantations. The cost of food production is rising and cultivatable land is becoming scarce. More and more of London’s parks and green spaces are given over to industrial-scale agriculture. Palm oil is harvested in Hyde Park to meet our changing energy needs. The Hyde Park Hilton was designed as an urban landmark but does not look out of place as a tropical resort hotel. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 Glacial Thames As the Arctic warms up, the starts to slow and temperatures in the UK plummet. Winters become unbearably harsh. Never mind hell freezing over, the Thames does it every winter. When the thaw comes, the city floods – a tediously predictable event for long-suffering Londoners. The frozen Thames is both romantic and frightening. It happened regularly in the 16th century when painters recorded the delightful scenes. But this time long-term ice is building up. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is still going strong. But being out in the sun is now a death-trap. Every carnival-goer is given standard- issue blue sun-block to protect every inch of exposed skin. Health and safety gone mad, or gone sensible? At least we’re all the same colour. The ozone layer protects the Earth from the Sun’s rays but is much thinner than it used to be. Banning the use of CFC gasses has stabilised the layer, for now. But how long –will it last?

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 ‘The Gherkin’ The iconic City office tower is now high-rise housing. Originally converted into luxury flats, the block soon slid down the social scale to become a high-density, multi-occupation tower block. The Gherkin now worries the authorities as a potential slum. Refugees from equatorial lands have moved north in search of food. They make their homes in the buildings that once drove world finance – before the collapse of the global economy.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Parliament Square rice paddies This view across Parliament Square shows paddy fields running up to the walls of the Palace of . The land that once housed political protest is now part of the city’s food production effort. In this scenario London has adapted to rising water tables in radical ways. Managed flooding is now the name of the game, as is self- sufficiency in food. Central London is a network of rice paddies – and Londoners’ diet is largely rice-based. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 shanty town Nelson looks down on a shanty town of climate refugees. As the equatorial belt becomes uninhabitable, so people are driven north in search of food and security. People settle wherever they can and many reach London. This is the political dilemma of the day for all European countries. The numbers are overwhelming. London’s strategy is to cluster the new arrivals in the historic centre, rather than spread them through the suburbs, where most Londoners now live. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Buckingham Palace shanty town The climate refugee crisis reaches epic proportions. The vast shanty town that stretches across London’s centre leaves historic buildings marooned, including Buckingham Palace. The royal family is surrounded in their London home. Everybody is on the move and the flooded city centre is now uninhabitable and empty – apart from the thousands of shanty-dwellers. But should empty buildings and land be opened up to climate refugees? Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Background photography © Jason Hawkes

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 Kew nuclear power Station The sunset over Kew Gardens catches London’s brand new nuclear power station on the banks of the Thames. Nuclear power is now widely accepted as the only viable alternative to fossil fuels. Expert opinion confirms that new power stations are best located near the populations they serve and architects strive to create new ‘harmonious’ landmarks. This is nothing new for London, which has a tradition of siting its power stations centrally: Battersea, for example. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Camel Guards Parade Background photography © Jason Hawkes Traditional rituals have altered beyond recognition, along with the climate. Here, on Horse Guards Parade, horses have been replaced by camels – animals that can withstand the heat of the parade ground. The change was controversial but the London Tourist Board argued strongly in favour. Tourism remains important for London’s economy.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 Thames tidal power The river remains a focus of power generation, just as it was for the great coal-powered power stations of old. Around the old Thames Barrier a number of new tidal power stations are using the tidal flows up and down the Thames to generate electricity for thousands of London businesses and homes. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Background photography © Jason Hawkes

Skating at Tower Bridge As the Gulf Stream slows a mini ice age brings temporary relief to heat-weary Londoners. Winter skating becomes London’s most popular sport and Tower Bridge is a favourite spot. The scene harks back to the 17th century when artists loved to paint London’s Frost Fairs. Then, the Thames froze over because the river flowed sluggishly. Now, the river flows quickly but every winter the temperature falls to new lows. Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones Background photography © Jason Hawkes

[email protected]/020 7814 5511 Story of London Events at Museum Service’s Digital Planet and Lecturer in Science Notes to Editors of London – Booking on 020 7001 9844 Communication at Imperial College London. Sir Crispin Tickell is currently Director of the Policy The Museum of London, Museum of London Docklands and Story of London late Foresight Programme at Oxford University and Chairman Museum of London Archaeology seek to inspire a passion for London. The Museums are open daily 10am – 6pm and are FREE Friday 1 October: 6.00 – 10.00pm of the Trustees of the St Andrew’s Prize to all. For more information, interviews of images, please contact Come along to an evening of innovation, inspiration for the Environment. [email protected] or call 020 7814 5511 and social history as the Museum hosts a late night Advanced booking required £5/£3 concessions Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones are founder directors opening highlighting London’s history as a centre of Goodbye London of GMJ (www.gmj.net) a cutting-edge digital illustration group innovation and exploring what the future may have in Saturday 9 October: 11.30am – 6:00pm commissioned by magazines, designers, architects and urban store for this great city. To celebrate the launch of the planners throughout the city. For more information on the Imagine a London of the future on the brink of 2010 Story of London Festival and our new exhibition exhibition please see www.postcardsfromthefuture.co.uk apocalypse. Join Shoot Experience at the Museum of ‘London Futures’, the Museum will offer free tours and London to photographically document our dying city. The Story of London is organised by the Mayor of London in activities alongside open galleries, live music and a bar Explore London’s streets in teams, returning with your partnership with a host of organisations across the capital. – all based on the theme ‘Innovation and the Future’. It takes place from 1-10 October and is designed to offer new findings to create one final time capsule of our days. Free experiences and insights into the capital, historically, culturally and Costumes very welcome – think end of the world / socially. This year’s theme is Innovation and the Future. It aims London Futures: Business, industry and futuristic (Mad Max, Children of Men, 28 days later…) to inform, entertain, educate and inspire, with dozens of events climate change Log on to www.shootexperience.com/goodbyelondon and activities covering history and heritage, art and architecture, Friday 1 October: 18.30am – 20.00pm Advanced booking essential £15/£10 concessions design and fashion, music, theatre and film. More information can be found at www.london.gov.uk/storyoflondon. Press information Watch a discussion chaired by BBC Radio 4’s Quentin The Big Draw: Mapping London’s future is available from Ben McKnight on 020 7983 4071 Cooper on how business and industry can do more to or email [email protected] help combat climate change. The panel consists of Sunday 10 October: 11.00am – 4pm Renaissance London is a partnership of four museum services influential climate change experts; Bruce Halai-Carter, Add to a futuristic fantasy map of London inspired by working closely with the Museums, Libraries and Archives founder of The Green Desk; and Charlie Kronick, Senior our London Futures exhibition and the hand-drawn maps collected by the Londonist website. To celebrate the Council to deliver the Renaissance in the Regions programme Climate Advisor for Greenpeace UK. of investment in England’s regional museums. Renaissance Advanced booking required £5/£3 concessions 10th anniversary of the Campaign for Drawing’s London works to invest in and transform the 250 or so non- Big Draw, come and make your mark on a large- scale national museums in London. This is done through providing a 28 Days Later (2002), 18 map of London to show how you think the city might look comprehensive service to schools, supporting a range of projects Sunday 3 October: 2.00pm in years to come. The resulting work will be displayed on designed to demonstrate how museum collections are vital in Set in an England ravaged by the onset of a deadly the Museum’s website throughout October. All materials communities, improving the regions collections and expanding the diversity of collections. Renaissance London is also engaged in virus Danny Boyle’s 2002 film is famous for its eerie provided. In partnership with The Big Draw. building and engaging new audiences and is leading on London’s shots of deserted London landmarks. 28 Days Later Free Stories of the World project, which is part of the Cultural centres on the experience of motorcycle courier Jim, Olympiad for London 2012. played by Cillian Murphy, who wakes from a coma to London Futures: Didier Madoc-Jones and Robert Graves The museums supported by Renaissance London to take discover the population have been infected by a virus part in the Story of London festival are: Museum of London; that turns humans into blood thirsty predators. Tuesday 2 November: 6.30pm ; Geffrye Museum; ; Free Didier Madoc-Jones and Robert Graves talk about Museum; Gallery; London SHH the research, inspiration and motivation behind their ( House, , Dr Johnson’s House, London Futures: In conversation with breathtaking images from the London Futures exhibition. , Handel House Museum and Kelmscott House); Sir Crispin Tickell and Gareth Mitchell Madoc-Jones and Graves, from creative communications Church Farmhouse; Eastside Community Heritage; Handel House Tuesday 5 October: 6.30pm company GMJ, explain why they were moved to produce Museum; Greenwich Heritage Centre; Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons; Valance House Museum; Join one of the most respected environmentalists of the London Futures exhibition and how their complex Bromley Museum. our age, Sir Crispin Tickell, as he discusses climate digital images were created. www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/renaissance/ change with Gareth Mitchell, presenter of BBC World Advanced booking required – Free regions/london

[email protected]/020 7814 5511