Symposium
Forces of Nature: New Perspectives on Art and Changing Environments
10:00–19:00
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Exploring the role of the artist in relation to the environment, climate change and the forces of nature.
For fifty years Ackling consistently made objects by burning wood – focusing sunlight through the lens of a hand-held magnifying glass to scorch repeated patterns of lines on the surface of card and wood. Best known for his work on driftwood collected from the beach at Weybourne near his home on the North Norfolk coast, later works feature discarded or low value materials of a more recent industrial past.
Casey’s recent work responds to the precarious nature of glacial archaeology, using sediments released from melting ice and drawings that are erased by the heat of alpine sun. Both artists explore the relationship between humans and their environment: between the earth-shaping forces of time, weather and geology and the agency of artists whose work is produced in collaboration with these processes.
Recent years have seen an efflorescence of art practices that engage with climate and the creative and destructive forces of nature. This symposium will address a wide variety of connected subjects such as artistic responses to coastal erosion, curatorial climate-focused challenges, the agency of materials, glacial engagements with contemporary art, the development of digital technologies, astronomical photography and interaction with fungal bodies. It will also look at key artists working in this area including Abbas Akhavan, Ilya Dogov, Joan Jonas, and Kerem Ozan Bayraktar.
Main image: Roger Ackling, Bird 1974, sunlight on wood. © Estate of the Artist. Courtesy Annely Juda Fine Art. Photo: Carol Robertson.
Tickets
Tickets to this event are free, and can be booked online via Eventbrite.
Programme
Arrivals, tea and coffee
10:00
Welcome and Introduction
10:20
An introduction to the day’s programme
Session 1
10:30
Chaired by Amanda Geitner, Norwich University of the Arts
‘A Long View of Art and Environment’
Veronia Sekules, GroundWork Gallery
‘Exhibiting Landscape at the Rijksmuseum’
Julia Kantelberg, Rijksmuseum
‘When It’s Gone, It’s Gone’
Dr Roter Su, independent filmmaker/academic
Session 2
11:45
Chaired by Professor Dean Hughes, Artist/Birmingham City University
‘Environmental Forces and Cosmological Thinking in early Ecological Art’
Deborah Mueller, Department of Art History, University of Vienna
‘Forms of Chance in Contemporary Ceramics’
Anna Voke, Institut Acte, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
‘Contemporary Land Art: The Open-Air Museum of Arte Sella’
Dr Silvia Neri, Université Paris 8
Lunch
13:00
Served in The Studio on the second floor
Exhibition tours
14:00
Guided tours of our current exhibitions SUNLIGHT: Roger Ackling and Sarah Casey: Negative Mass Balance
Session 3
15:00
Chaired by Professor Sarah Casey, Lancaster University
‘Glacial Thinking: Art, Time and the Spectral Forces of Ice’
Dr Joanne ‘Bob’ Whalley, University of the Arts London
‘Digital Fractures: Visualising Environmental Change in Antarctica’
Liberty Quinn, artist
‘Ancient Light: Rematerialising The Astronomical Image’
Dr Melanie King, artist/curator
Break
16:00
Refreshments served in The Studio on the second floor
Session 4
16:30
Chaired by Dr Sean Ketteringham, Henry Moore Institute
‘Growing Out of Art: Gardening and Experimentation in the Disciplinary Margins’
Dr. Valentin Diakonov, The Whitworth, University of Manchester
‘Theatre of Decomposition’
Haeweon Yi, Theatre maker/writer/researcher, Manchester
‘I miss the days when the weather was a literary device’: Abbas Akhavan’s snapdragon’
Dr Morven Gregor, Mount Stuart Trust
Drinks Reception
17:30
Refreshments served in The Studio on the second floor
Finish
19:00
Accessibility
We want to make it as easy as possible for all to attend, so please get in touch if you have any access needs that you would like to discuss before the symposium.
Step-free entrance
We have an accessible entrance via lift (doors 100cm wide) on Cookridge Street, bringing you onto the ground floor of the building.
Internal lift
There is an internal passenger lift (doors 72cm wide) to all floors of the building.
Induction loops
There are induction loops at the welcome desk on the ground floor, library reception and in the seminar room.
There is a portable induction loop available for visitors to use in the galleries and in The Studio (please ask at the welcome desk).
Toilets
Outside the seminar room on the basement level we have three gender-neutral superloos (self-contained cubicles with a toilet and sink).
Additionally, we have one gender-neutral, accessible superloo, and one superloo with baby changing facilities.
The Studio has its own toilet facilities, including one fully accessible superloo and two additional gender-neutral superloos.
Changing Places toilet
The closest Changing Places toilet is located in Leeds City Museum (approximately 350m away from us over a mostly flat route).
Guide dogs
Guide dogs, hearing dogs and other badged assistance dogs are welcome in our galleries and at this event.
The nearest green space is Park Square.
Related exhibitions and events
Exhibition
SUNLIGHT: Roger Ackling
Learn more
Exhibition
Sarah Casey: Negative Mass Balance
Learn more
Getting here
Please note that we’re closed on Mondays and bank holidays, including Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The library will be closed on Saturday 19 April.
Henry Moore Institute
74 The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 01132 467 467
E: institute@henry-moore.org
