The David Brower Center Opens Multimedia Exhibition 'VANISHING ICE' Today
By: BWW News Desk Feb. 11, 2016
The David Brower Center is pleased to present Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art 1775-2012, a multimedia exhibition tracing the impact of glaciers, icebergs, and fields of ice on artist imaginations.
Vanishing Ice provides visitors an opportunity to experience landscapes that have inspired artists, writers, and naturalists for more than two hundred years. The exhibition pays tribute to the beauty and influence of ice, depicting ice as an infinite source of inspiration that has connected generations of artists.
Showcasing the beauty and attraction of Earth's frozen frontiers, Vanishing Ice frames a unique body of art within the context of climate change. This cultural perspective reveals the importance of alpine and polar landscapes in shaping Western consciousness about nature, and helps inform the environmental challenges faced today.
The exhibition includes internationally recognized historical and contemporary artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, Lita Albuquerque, Subhankar Banerjee, Olaf Otto Becker, Francois-Auguste Biard, David Breashears, David Buckland, Frederic Edwin Church, Lawren Harris, Helen and Newton Harrison, Frank Hurley, Chris Linder, Anna McKee, Jean de Pomereu, Herbert G. Ponting, Nicholas Roerich, Camille Seaman, Spencer Tunick and Major Edward Oliver Wheeler.
The concept of Vanishing Ice can be traced back nearly three decades. Curator Dr. Barbara Matilsky was writing her doctorial dissertation on French sublime landscapes. She saw an opportunity to connect both historical and contemporary artists in their inspiration of the poles and mountain glaciers. As Matilsky further explored this concept the more interdisciplinary connections she discovered. Matilsky says of this kinship, "Losing these landscapes would be a loss not only to the planet and its wildlife but also a major loss to culture." The exhibition premiered at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, WA in March 2014 and has continued on to The El Paso Museum of Art in TX and the McMicael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario; Canada.
The Brower Center will also present a series of public programs in conjunction with the exhibit, including a conversation between Bay Area faith-based activists and Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director of Yale's Forum on Religion and Ecology; an Earth Day discussion with Micah White, co-founder of Occupy Wall Street; "Polar Soundscapes," an evening of music with Other Minds; and two powerful film screenings.
A full list of programs follows:
Vanishing Ice Opening Reception and Curator Lecture
Presented by the David Brower Center
Date: February 11
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm reception / 7 pm curator lecture; $10 suggested donation
Dr. Barbara Matilsky, curator of Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art 1775-2012 and curator of art at the Whatcom Museum, will offer a short lecture and Q&A session.
Merchants of Doubt Film Screening
Presented by the David Brower Center
Date: February 24, 2016
Time: 7 pm
Tickets: $10 adv / $12 door // $5 students & teachers
Based on the 2010 book, this acclaimed documentary lifts the curtain on pundits-for-hire paid by large corporations to cast doubt on scientific studies and spread confusion about a range of public threats, from toxic chemicals to climate change. Called "provocative and improbably entertaining" by the Wall Street Journal, the film explores the illusions created by these corporations in order distract the public from the harm their products create.
After Paris: Climate and Religion
Presented by the David Brower Center
Date: March 15
Time: 7 pm
Tickets: Sliding scale $10/20/30
What role can faith play in motivating our leaders towards sustainable change? How can faith-based work bring activists together across communities? Join us for a conversation between Bay Area faith-based activists and Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director of Yale's Forum on Religion and Ecology, on the climate movement and faith post-COP 21. A Senior Lecturer and Research Scholar at Yale University, Tucker is the author or editor of numerous volumes on religious environmentalism.
Community, Climate and Race
Presented by the David Brower Center and Idle No More SF Bay
Date: March 29
Time: 7 pm
Tickets: Sliding Scale $5/10/15
Join local activists for a participatory community conversation at the intersection of two of today's most powerful movements: climate change and racial justice. The conversation will be facilitated by local activists including Pennie Opal-Plant of Idle No More SF Bay.
SF Green Film Festival Screening
Presented by the David Brower Center and the San Francisco Green Film Festival
Date: April 19
Time: 7 pm
Tickets: $15 General / $14 Students, Seniors & Kids // $13 SF Green Film Festival Members
In celebration of the 2016 San Francisco Green Film festival, the Brower Center and the San Francisco Green Film Festival will co-present a film touching on issues of the arctic and climate change.
Is Climate Change Protest Broken?
Presented by the David Brower Center
Date: April 22
Time: 7 pm
Ticket: sliding scale $5/10/15
How do activists actually create change, and how can we learn from past actions? On Earth Day 2016, join Micah White, co-founder of Occupy Wall Street, and Bay Area organizers for a conversation on the past and future of environmental protest. Widely recognized as a pioneer of social movement creation, White has been profiled by The New Yorker, and Esquire has named him one of the most influential young thinkers alive today. Drawing on thinking from his new book, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution, White proposes that a reliance on materialism, empiricism and scientism has limited the potential of environmental protest, and looks toward a social revolution for individuals, communities and the planet.
Polar Soundscapes
Presented by the David Brower Center and Other Minds
Date: May 11
Time: 7:30 pm
Tickets: $15 General / $12 Students & Teachers / $5 Kids 12 & Under
In this closing event for the Vanishing Ice exhibition, Bay Area new music organization Other Minds and the Brower Center present composer, performer, and instrument-builder Cheryl Leonard, who will create an evening concert using Arctic and Antarctic field recordings and natural-object instruments including penguin bones, dried seaweed, ice, and seashells. Leonard, with Phillip Greenlief, will perform works about polar environments and climate change including Meltwater, a delicate and innovative composition produced with icicles. Q&A with the artist will follow the performance, hosted by Charles Amirkhanian.
Opened in 2009, the nonprofit David Brower Center is a vibrant community center that inspires, sustains, and brings together people committed to environmental causes and social action. The Center offers a museum-quality art gallery and myriad educational public programs, as well as stunning event facilities, conference space, and high-quality office space for nonprofits - all in the greenest building in Berkeley. It is named to honor David Brower, a Berkeley native who many consider the father of the modern environmental movement. www.browercenter.org
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