K Allado-McDowell envisions visitors entering “The Known Lost” exhibition on a sweltering, bustling day in New York City, stepping into a tranquil gallery space dedicated to the show.
Within the gallery, one might observe another guest standing at a podium equipped with a microphone, surrounded by imagery of stone memorials. This visitor intones the scientific names of extinct species, their voice layered over a musical composition that incorporates natural sounds like flowing water and crackling ice. The Latin names resonate like meditative chants: Zuberia zuberi, Tasmaniosaurus triassicus, Vegaranina precocia.
After the visitor steps away, you approach the podium to find it stacked with six books inscribed with species names. As you recite and sing these names, the vastness of Earth's lost biodiversity becomes palpable: from trilobites and Tyrannosaurus rex to towering mosses and ancient mammalian ancestors from the Jurassic period, countless extinct life forms come into focus.
“The approach is to engage with deep time—expanding our understanding of both our ancestors and our potential futures,” Allado-McDowell explained in a video interview from California, referencing Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history.
Opening from May 7 through September 7 at the Swiss Institute, “The Known Lost” marks the first solo exhibition by Allado-McDowell, a 47-year-old artist, writer, and musician who uses they/them pronouns. The exhibition acts as a rehearsal space for the initial act of an evolving opera intended for a proposed monument. Both the opera and the monument aim to honor species that have vanished from the planet.
