An evening of performative lectures that will examine the status of volcanoes in contemporary culture, featuring New York– and Glasgow-based artist Ilana Halperin, anthropologist Karen Holmberg (Brown University), and art historian Andrew Patrizio (Edinburgh College of Art). By exploring the intersections of geology, archaeology, history, and the visual arts, Halperin, Holmberg, and Patrizio will attempt to make sense of our ongoing desire to make contact with volcanoes. The team will present their field notes from volcanic sites across the world, including Hawaii, Vesuvius, Mt. St. Helens, Iceland, and elsewhere. Representations of volcanoes in news reports, scientific documents, and tourist videos will be compared as a means of understanding the ways in which volcanic eruptions are scientifically, culturally, and personally significant events.

Physical Geology: a Field Guide to Body Mineralogy and Other New Landmass, a new book by Ilana Halperin, edited by Sara Barnes and Andrew Patrizio and published by Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité, will be available for purchase at the event.

This event is supported in part by the Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, Creative Scotland, and New York Council for the Humanities. Halperin is a Triple Canopy New Programming 2010 commissions recipient.

Participants
  • Ilana Halperin is a New York– and Glasgow-based artist.
  • Karen Holmberg is an archaeologist specializing in volcanic regions who has taught at Brown and Stanford Universities.
  • Andrew Patrizio is an art historian at Edinburgh College of Art.