What is the role of creativity in a time of ecological catastrophe? How can museum curation critically engage with global biodiversity loss? And what is the appropriate public response to the Sixth Mass Extinction Event? Is it remorse, grief, guilt, amazement, wonder, anger, indifference?

On Friday 16th October, please join us for two free online conversations about art, museums and mass extinction.

The roundtables will feature conversations between artists and writers who, as part of an AHRC-funded project, Thinking Through Extinction, have been working alongside Manchester Museum's curators to explore the complex ethical and emotional challenges of how different publics respond to extinction.

This event is part of a two-day academic symposium, Extinction in Public, which investigates the relationship between mass extinction and public life.

2–4pm: Creating in a Time of Mass Extinction

Featuring:

Anna Souter, an independent writer, editor and curator with an interest in contemporary art and ecology.

Daisy Hildyard, author of The Second Body (Fitzcarraldo) and Hunters in the Snow (Jonathan Cape).

Jon Hughes, sound artist and composer.

Laura Spark, a visual artist working in animation, film and performance.

Laurence Payot, artist-in-residence on the 'Thinking Through Extinction' project

Scott Farlow, poet and multi-media artist.

Chaired by Dominic O'Key. Dominic is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK, where he researches the cultural meanings of the Sixth Extinction.

4.30–6.30pm: Curating in a Time of Mass Extinction

Featuring speakers from Manchester Museum, Leeds City Museum, Bristol Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Chaired by Dolly Jørgensen, Professor of History at University of Stavanger, Norway. Dolly's most recent book is Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age: Stories of Longing and Belonging (MIT Press).

Platform

These roundtables will be hosted online and will set aside ample time for Q&A from attendees. Please note that a link to access these events will be shared on the day preceding the event. Feel free to reach out to Dominic O'Key (d.e.okey[at]leeds.ac.uk) if you have any questions.