CONFERENCES

Charles Darwin & the Art of Evolution

CONFERENCE

WHEN WHERE REGISTRATION

9 –11 September Art Gallery of New South www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/aaanz
2010 Wales, Sydney

Charles Darwin and the Art of Evolution is presented the legacy of Darwin’s ideas for Australian contemporary
by COFA UNSW, together with the Art Assocciation artists. The conference will be launched with a
of Australia and New Zealand (NSW chapter) and the performed reading of Justin Fleming’s provocative new
Art Gallery of New South Wales. play, Origin, directed by Wayne Harrison.

During Charles Darwin’s five-year round-the- Keynote speakers:

world voyage, he surveyed the fauna and flora of BARBARA LARSON
many countries, particularly in South America and University of West Florida
Australia. He was, in fact, the first British scientist Author: The dark side of nature:science, society and the
fantastic in the work of Odilon Redon
to study a platypus in its natural environment – a
Co-editor: The art of evolution: Darwin, Darwinisms and visual
creek at Bathurst. These observations formed the culture)
basis for his theory of evolution by natural selection. • Darwin’s sexual selection and the art of the jealous male
From publication of On the origin of species, most
intellectual disciplines have been transformed by his PHILLIP PRODGER
discoveries. This is most potently revealed by visual Peabody Essex Museum Massachusetts
cultures in the form of art, anthropological, medical, Author: Darwin’s camera: art and photography in the theory of
scientific and popular press imagery. evolution, 2009
• Darwin’s camera: how photography met evolution

Charles Darwin and the art of evolution will explore

BARBARA CREED
the impact of Charles Darwin’s theories upon art
University of Melbourne
and other visual cultures and the ways they, in turn,
Author: Darwin’s screens: evolutionary aesthetics, time
illuminate intriguing dimensions of his theories. As
and sexual display in the cinema
Darwin sailed into Sydney Harbour on 12 January
• The Darwinian screen: the Hollywood musical as Darwinian
1836, the conference will begin by exploring Charles
mating game Sessions
Darwin’s ventures in Sydney Cove through art, his
contact with the Indigenous people of New South
SESSIONS
Wales and his collection of Australian fauna and • Charles Darwin in Sydney Cove
flora. Through visual cultures, it will examine the • Darwin, Darwinisms and Australian Indigenous people
subsequent impact of Darwinist theories upon • Sexual selection, eugenics and the Darwinian body
Australian Indigenous people, and the global • Capturing the expression of emotions in man, woman and
repercussions of his theory of ‘sexual selection’ upon animals
• Darwin, Simians and the gorilla wars
bioculturesand eugenics.
• Charles Darwin and Australian contemporary artists

With the aid of painters, printers and photographers,

Play reading
the conference will investigate Darwin’s research Origin by Justin Fleming
into the expression of emotion shared by humans Directed by Wayne Harrison
and animals, particularly simians. It will also consider Presented by National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)

IMAGE: Patricia Piccinini, Psychotourism, 1996, type C photograph from Digiprint, 133 x 268 cm. Viktoria Marinov Bequest
Fund 1999. Art Gallery of New South Wales, photograph: Jenni Carter © the artist, courtesy Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney

CONFERENCES
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS | THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
CNR OXFORD ST & GREENS RD PADDINGTON NSW 2021 AUSTRALIA
PHONE +61 2 9385 0684 EMAIL cofa@unsw.edu.au WEB www.cofa.unsw.edu.au