Elizabeth Turk's The Tipping Point: Echoes of Extinction

May 20, 2023–May 1, 2024
Museum Grounds

In continuation of the multiyear outdoor sculpture program launched in 2022 to activate the Museum’s grounds, Elizabeth Turk’s The Tipping Point: Echoes of Extinction will mark the third installation in this initiative. Turk’s series comprises vertical sound sculptures of bird species that are endangered or are extinct. Each artwork is a sculptural visualization of the call of a bird that has reached, or surpassed, a tipping point. Whether it is a story of loss (the Ivory-billed Woodpecker) or regeneration (Bald Eagle), each sculpture stands as a totemic memorial to a particular species, reminding us of our role in the precious and delicate—and quickly changing—environment. Accompanying each sculpture is a QR code containing the audio files of the bird’s song; many of the species inhabit, or were previously found, in Texas.

Image: Elizabeth Turk (b. 1961), Bald Eagle (detail), 2022, aluminum, powder coated opalescent white, Courtesy of the artist and Hirschl & Adler Modern, Photo by Eric Stoner, © Elizabeth Turk