Victorian lecture on pollution and changing skies revived in Oxford
Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 31 Oct, 16:44 · Archive
John Ruskin's 1884 lecture on industrial smoke changing the sky was restaged at Oxford Museum of Natural History on 24 October.
John Ruskin's 1884 lecture The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century was restaged at the Oxford Museum of Natural History on 24 October as part of the IF Oxford science and ideas Festival. The lecture, delivered as a 75-minute solo performance titled Storm-Cloud: Observations of the Sky by Dr Tom Payne from Sheffield Hallam University, described the changing skies of the nineteenth century, which Ruskin attributed to industrial smoke.
The performance took place in the very building Ruskin helped to establish, and served as one of the earliest public warnings that industrial pollution was altering the atmosphere. The event combined Ruskin's original words with projected moving images and a weather soundscape created by David John Brady.
Earlier the same afternoon, the Ashmolean's Western Art Print Room opened displays of Ruskin's original watercolour studies of skies and clouds, some of which included his notes on pollution. Dr Dane Comerford, festival director of IF Oxford, said that 'hearing it in the museum he fought for, among the specimens, it sounded less like Victorian history and more like this week's news', highlighting the relevance of Ruskin's observations to contemporary concerns about environmental change.
How it is being reported
- Victorian lecture on pollution and changing skies revived in OxfordJohn Ruskin’s 1884 lecture The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century, was restaged at the Oxford Museum of Natural History on October 24.Oxford Mail · 31 Oct, 16:00
- Victorian lecture on pollution and changing skies revived in OxfordJohn Ruskin’s 1884 lecture The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century, was restaged at the Oxford Museum of Natural History on October 24.Oxfordshire Guardian · 31 Oct, 16:00
In this story: John Ruskin · Oxford Museum of Natural History · IF Oxford · Tom Payne · Sheffield Hallam University · Ashmolean · Oxford
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