As part of the celebrations for the International Year of Biodiversity, the historic city of Prague will host the second World Premiere of the free Outdoor Photo Exhibition, "Wild Wonders of Europe" on 22 June. This follows the successful launch on May 27 of the inaugural exhibition in The Hague by Her Royal Highness Princess Irene of The Netherlands.
Wild Wonders of Europe is an international travelling exhibition revealing the natural treasures of our continent to 700 Million Europeans and the world. Wild Wonders of Europe is a unique pan-European initiative about the beauty of nature. About what we can admire now, but are at risk of
losing. An exhibition that shows why European nature is important for us. And why we need to protect it.
The opening ceremony in Prague on 22 June will be conducted by Prime Minister Jan Fischer and Minister of the Environment Rut Bízková. 100 life-size nature photographs taken by 69 of
Europe’s finest photographers can be admired at the Alšove nábrezi 12, beside the Rudolfinum in Prague from June 22 to August 22. Admission is free and open 24 hours a day!
Selected from almost 200.000 images taken over
a period of fifteen months for this unique project, the
pictures bring to the exhibition striking emotional power. Each European
country is represented with at least one photo and many more can be seen on the
Wild Wonders of Europe website www.wild-wonders.com.
The Ministry of the Environment of the Czech
Republic, The National Fund for the Environment of the Czech Republic, Prague and The Capital City of Prague 1 made it possible for the Wild
Wonders of Europe Exhibition to come to The Czech Republic.
The
outdoor exhibition is intended to tour all 48 European countries
and North
America in the coming years.The city of Prague has a unique opportunity to be part of this tour, highlighting its role as an important partner of the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.
"Today's global problem is the destruction and loss of native
ecosystems and species. In March of this year the Ministers of the environment
of the Member States of the EU at the Council meeting in Brussels agreed EU
objectives to protect biodiversity. They undertake to halt the loss of biological diversity and the degradation of ecosystem services by 2020. This implies the involvement of the entire society.
This exhibition is one of the ways the public's attention is raised about what is necessary
to protect, in the interests of a good environment for people, "says environment Minister Rut Bízková .
A separate side-exhibition "Wilds of Šumava", illustrating the National
Park of Šumava will also be on display marking the beginning of a
long-term project to present the natural beauty of the Czech Republic.
NOTE for journalists:
Free Press Images
and Free Web
Banners are available for media usage. These images are copyright
protected and can only be used to illustrate the above mentioned media release
in the context of Wild Wonders of Europe. A maximum of three (3) of the images
plus the front cover of the book and the Director’s portraits are free to be
used without cost or previous agreement at any given time. But only under the
condition that they are used in direct connection with reports on Wild Wonders
of Europe, with the project's website www.wild-wonders.com
mentioned and with the photographer's credit published beside the images, like
this:
Photo: Photographer's name / www.wild-wonders.com.
Any other subsequent rights are not allowed and are subject to approval by Wild Wonders of Europe.
Individual photo credits are mandatory. Credit information is available from the IPTC file info of the downloaded images or you can download a separate text file with the relevant information.
Coinciding with the exhibition is the release of the photo book Wild
Wonders of Europe published in ten languages. More information about
this book can be found at http://www.wild-wonders.com/the_book.asp.
About the Main Partners:
The
Wild Wonders of Europe Outdoor Exhibition is organized by Life Exhibitions www.lifeexhibitions.com who in the past were responsible for touring other hugely popular
exhibitions including “Spirit of the Wild” and “Earth from Above”.
- WWF
International http://wwf.panda.org/ is the main conservation partner and contributed valuable factual
content for the project’s communications, great PR work and support for a number
of the photo missions.
-
National Geographic Society http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ is the main media partner and published the article
entitled “The Wild Side” together with the story about the Iberian lynx in 33
International editions across 66 countries. Wild Wonders of Europe was featured
as the cover story for many local European language editions. NG.com web site
features 750 of our images in different galleries.
- Epson is the printing and
projection partner who produced all of the outdoor images for the exhibition
using the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 large format printer. The printer was
selected to produce the images thanks to its ability to deliver stunning colour
clarity and fine detail accuracy, as well as the image durability and UV
resistance afforded by its UltraChrome™ GS inks - even in outdoor
applications. Epson also provided the projection equipment for use
both within the Exhibition Pavilion and for other venues.
"The images generated by the project are stunning and deserve to be
brought to life using the best imaging products available. By working with Wild
Wonders of Europe, we believe we can help raise awareness of the beauty of
nature throughout Europe, and in doing so, aid
the preservation of our natural heritage. This is an important objective, and
in line with Epson’s broader commitment to supporting the environment and
society as a whole,” says Eelco Smit, Environmental Manager, Epson.
- Nikon http://www.europe-nikon.com/ is the photography equipment partner, provided
professional quality photographic equipment for the photographers and for the
European nature photography competition on our website.
“We
all have a responsibility to ensure the continued health of our natural
environment. Nikon Europe is convinced Wild Wonders will bring to life Europe’s
flora and fauna for many thousands of people, first-hand and through the
generation chain. Nikon has been committed to nature photographers for many
years now, and many of them trust our equipment in their challenging working
conditions. The work they deliver is the best evidence for the great
performance of our latest generation of cameras and lenses.” Birgitta Olson, General Manager, Marketing
Communications
at Nikon Europe B.V.
“Nokia
is proud to collaborate with this unique project and help the photographers
whilst on their missions by providing devices that will allow them to stay in
touch, capture images, upload imagery and video content and tell their story
which can be seen via Ovi Share. It’s great that Nokia can help promote
this amazing programme that will go down in history as the biggest and best of
its kind. We are delighted to partner with an initiative that stands for the
positive and good things that Europe has to
offer and we are looking forward to helping bring this vision to life over the
coming months.” Will Nicholls, Global Sponsorship, Nokia
- Nature
Picture Library is the selected, exclusive image agency for the project,
and they hold a key collection of the 10,000 best images from the project,
available for direct download at: Nature Picture Library http://www.naturepl.com/ .
For more press information:
Czech Press:
ConPro, s.r.o., Helena Krausová
helena@conpro.cz www.conpro.cz
GSM: +420 774 303 508
International
Press:
Florian Moellers (Communications Director) t: +491709375789 e:
florian@wild-wonders.com, Bridget Wijnberg (Media & Exhibitions Director) t: +447972106839 e:
bridget@wild-wonders.com |
Photo:Vincent Munier / Wild Wonders of Europe
