Dialogues with Tomorrow - Antarctica: Terra Nullius?

What is the role of imagination in envisaging a sustainable society?

Dialogues with Tomorrow places artists in conversation with scientists, business people and thinkers on themes related to climate change. In each session, an artist or cultural commentator presents ideas and work inspired by environmental issues. A response is provided an expert in the field, followed by discussion that brings together the knowledge, ideas and reactions of the speakers.

Antarctica: Terra Nullius?

How is the great southern continent, imagined as pristine and empty, being transformed by human presence both on the ice and at a distance?

Guest speakers:
Anne Noble, Photographer, Professor of Fine Arts, Massey University
In 2008 Anne Noble spent seven weeks in Antarctica as a US National Foundation arts fellow. Interested in fragility rather than heroism and grandeur her Antarctic projects question the way we imagine and represent the Antarctic.

Dr Peter Barrett, Professor of Geology, Victoria University Peter Barrett has worked with colleagues and students over four decades to unravel Antarctica’s climate history since it became ice-covered over 30 million years ago. He has now begun to contemplate the loss of its ice.

Chair: Ian Wedde

Ian Wedde is a freelance writer and curator based in Wellington. In 2008/9 he curated the Rotorua Museum of Art and History's centennial exhibition,'He Korowai o te Wai - the Mantle of Water', a project about freshwater. His recent books are an art monograph, 'Bill Culbert: Making Light Work'(AUP/RGAP 2009) and a collection of poems, 'Good Business' (AUP 2009).

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