Photo: Arcadia by John Akomfrah, Natural History Museum
John Akomfrah’s multi-screen film installation, Arcadia, at the Natural History Museum explores how the Columbian Exchange from the 1400s onwards resulted in irreversible global changes, through mass movement of plants, animals, disease and people
Akomfrah is one of Britain’s most influential contemporary artists.
The mesmerising, free, five-screen installation explores the lasting environmental and social impacts of the Columbian Exchange - the widespread transfer of plants, people, animals, precious metals, commodities, technology, diseases and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia from the 1400s onwards.
Past and present unfold simultaneously in a cinematic journey through migration, trade, colonialism and the natural world. Surprising and immersive, Arcadia reveals unexpected connections between humanity and the world we have shaped—and that has shaped us.
Breathtaking visuals of landscapes from across the globe simultaneously take centre stage on the screens, accompanied by an evocative soundscape. Deserts, ice fields, ancient ruins claimed by forests, vast skies, lakes, mountains, storms, restless seas and underwater coral reefs play out across the frames. The awe-inspiring scenery of the natural world is disrupted throughout by images of cargo, symbols of trade, decaying ships and disease.
Through Arcadia, Akomfrah explores how migration, colonialism and empire have shaped the planet, its people and its natural environments. The piece invites viewers to reflect on the entanglement of human histories with the natural world, and the legacies of those transformations today.
John Akomfrah says: “It is very special that the Natural History Museum have chosen to present Arcadia – a film installation exploring the profound relationship between humans and the changing natural world – alongside one of the world's greatest scientific collections.
In Arcadia, “I was thinking about the transfer of people, plants, animals and pathogens between the Americas, Europe and Afro-Eurasia, going back to a time before colonial violence to explore what other, less visible forms of power were also at work – knowing that humans are never the only actors on the historical stage. Having these journeys in dialogue with those present in the museum, from Charles Darwin’s Beagle voyage, to the pilgrimage of the rare meteorites on view, will hopefully allow the NHM’s vast and diverse audiences to experience something different, and even consider our collective and individual histories in a new way.”
Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Museum, says: "John Akomfrah is one of the most significant artists working today, creating works that challenge us to think differently about our place in the world. Arcadia brings together powerful human stories with sweeping visions of the natural world, inviting visitors to consider how migration, trade and empire have shaped both people and planet. We're delighted to host its London debut at the Natural History Museum, where these themes invite reflection on our relationship with the world around us.”
* Visitors keen to dive deeper into humans’ relationship with the natural world after watching Arcadia can find the museum’s Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery next door to the film installation. Packed with contemporary science from the Museum’s world-leading researchers, it explores practical, nature-based solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the planet today. On the second floor of the museum, visitors can also find the brand-new Nature and Us display to further explore our evolving relationship with the natural world through 50 remarkable objects, from a bryozoan-encrusted Star Wars toy from the 1980s to a 400,000-year-old handaxe whose discovery transformed our understanding of when humans first existed.
Arcadia is free for all visitors to the Natural History Museum and will run until May 2027. Just under an hour long, the film plays on a loop in the Jerwood Gallery.
Visitors should book a free ticket in advance online for guaranteed entry to the Museum.
About The Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and the UK's number one visitor attraction.
With over 80 million specimens, spanning 4.5 billion years, the breadth and depth of the museum’s collection make it the most important of its kind in the world.
About John Akomfrah
John Akomfrah is a widely respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterised by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality and aesthetics, and often explore the experiences of migrant diasporas globally.
Akomfrah was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, which started in London in 1982 alongside artist Lina Gopaul, later joined by David Lawson who he still collaborates with today alongside Ashitey Akomfrah as Smoking Dogs Films.
Their debut film, Handsworth Songs, examined the 1985 Birmingham and London riots through a layered mix of archive, stills and new footage, earning international acclaim and defining Akomfrah’s distinctive visual style.
Other works include the three-screen installation The Unfinished Conversation (2012), a moving portrait of the cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s life and work; Peripeteia (2012), an imagined drama visualising the lives of individuals included in two 16th century portraits by Albrecht Dürer and Mnemosyne (2010) which exposes experiences of migrants in the UK, questioning the notion of Britain as a promised land by revealing the realities of economic hardship and casual racism.