William Fox (Art Forum)

Abstract

The Anthropocene begins in the 1790s when the burning of fossil fuels creates a global signature, a strata of residue from greenhouses gases that marked when humans became the most pervasive geomorphological force on the planet. The beginning of the epoch was also marked by the birth of Earth systems science, and the start of a concurrent evolution in the artistic representation of the planet from landscape art to land art, from making pictures of the land to using land itself and our effects on it to make art. Fox’s talk will trace the development of earth systems science from Alexander von Humboldt to Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, who proposed the Anthropocene, and examine the synergy between artists and scientists as they study, represent, and seek to modify the environment. Fox is the director of the Center for Art & Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno and a fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and Explorers Club. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation. He has been a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute, Clark Art Institute and National Museum of Australia, and published more than a dozen books on how human cognition and landscape interact.