Apocalyptic Skies and the Decay of Public Meaning

This lecture traces a pictorial history of the sky over the last thousand years as its meaning shifts from religion in the Early Modern period towards science, war and romanticism during the era of industrial progress, abstraction in the twentieth century and global warming during our own era of the Anthropocene. During that vast period a general breakdown of shared meaning into multiple private meanings takes place from which a new collective understanding now reasserts itself. The lecture end with a thought experiment about a recent work of environmental art in which the audience's participation is invited. 

Richard Read is Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Perth. He is widely published and presents art lectures in an engaging and informative way for all audiences.

Hosted by Tresillian Arts Centre.

Image Credit: Salvador Dali - The Three Sphinxes of Bikini 1947