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Stop Animation
2008
Description:
Stop animation created with origami dodo birds made during the workshop entitled "Making Time for Failure", led by Natalie Doonan in April 2008.
Making Time for Failure
The story of the Dodo is both tragic and inspirational. The last Dodo died barely more than a century after the first one was discovered in 1581. Having evolved in isolation from any significant predators, it was a very trusting bird, fearless even of people. Its trusting nature, combined with its inability to fly, made it easy prey. Even so, there are myriad accounts of the unsavory taste and tough meat of the Dodo. It seems the sacrifice of each bird’s life and the species as a whole went largely unappreciated.
Humans were both directly, and indirectly responsible for the disappearance of the Dodo. The species was threatened by animals introduced to the island of Mauritius by people: dogs, pigs, cats, rats, and Macaques, who plundered their nests. Humans destroyed their forest homes. The dwindling Dodos were eventually wiped out entirely by a flash flood.
I said that their story was also inspirational. Through their ultimate demise, they have become a symbol of extinction, or of failure. We must remind ourselves that it is impossible to advance without failure. The Dodo bird has inspired stories such as: Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency; and J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – not to mention various cartoons, TV shows, and even music. New encounters engender always both loss and gain. The Dodo speaks to our interdependence. Every Dodo made in “Making Time for Failure” is used and appreciated. You are invited to make one too. We do, I believe, live in an age when everything must be used.