Ruskin's 140-year-old pollution warning restaged at Oxford festival
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 2 Nov, 21:08 · Archive
John Ruskin's 1884 lecture on air pollution was performed again at Oxford's science festival on 24 October.
John Ruskin's lecture 'The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century', originally delivered in London in 1884, was restaged at the Oxford Museum of Natural History on 24 October as part of IF Oxford science festival. The 75-minute solo performance, named 'Storm-Cloud: Observations of the Sky', was directed by Dr Tom Payne and developed at Sheffield Hallam University, featuring Ruskin's words set against moving images and a weather-themed soundscape by David John Brady.
Ruskin's original lecture was among the earliest public alerts about the impact of industrial smoke on the atmosphere. He described the pollution-altered sky as a 'plague-cloud' and a 'plague-wind'. Prior to the performance, the Ashmolean Museum's Western Art Print Room showcased Ruskin's original watercolour studies of skies and clouds, featuring his notes on pollution.
Dr Dane Comerford, Festival Director of IF Oxford, said: 'Ruskin watched the sky for decades before he gave that lecture. Hearing it in the museum he fought for, among the specimens, it sounded less like Victorian history and more like this week's news.' The festival also featured a Halloween special called 'Modelling the Undead: Zombies and Health' at Grassroots Workspace with pay-what-you-decide tickets.
How it is being reported
- 140-year old warning about air pollution redelivered in OxfordA historic warning about air pollution was heard again in Oxford at a science festival.Oxford Mail · 2 Nov, 20:00
- 140-year old warning about air pollution redelivered in OxfordA historic warning about air pollution was heard again in Oxford at a science festival.Oxfordshire Guardian · 2 Nov, 20:00
In this story: John Ruskin · Oxford Museum of Natural History · IF Oxford · Sheffield Hallam University · Ashmolean Museum · Oxford
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