Description
Louise will share her 2024 British Council funded project, ‘Earth, a Cosmic Spectacle’ which was developed in collaboration with astronomer Dr Ian Griffin and Tūhura Otago Museum in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this project, the artist invited astronomers, biologists, and geologists to gaze into the dark skies of New Zealand and anonymously write a letter exploring how their knowledge of Earth's long and gradual development, starting from the dawn of the Universe, shapes their understanding of the cosmic significance of the climate crisis.
https://www.louisebeer.com/work#/earth-a-cosmic-spectacle-images-aotearoa/
Louise will also discuss her chapter ‘The Transparency of Night’ (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003408444-6/transparency-night-louise-beer?context=ubx&refId=9a0efecb-7e5b-4d7f-86c7-ce70e207dba3) which she contributed to Dark Skies: Places, Practices, Communities, edited by Tim Edensor and Nick Dunn and published by Routledge in late November 2023. The abstract is below:
As light pollution increases around the world, humanity is losing a symbolic visual connection to the cosmos, shared by our ancestors throughout history. The author examines how living under the dark skies of Aotearoa, New Zealand, has influenced her artistic and curatorial practice and how her artwork can invite the audience to explore their own changing relationship with the night. Through the discussion of five artistic projects, this chapter explores how living under dark skies, or light-polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis, and Earth’s deep-time history and future. Each of the projects has started with a fundamental connection to the night sky and reflects the author’s changing understanding of life, death, darkness, and light.“
