Antarctica

The exhibition Antarctica was conceived to complement the 2012 annual meeting in Australia of the international Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), an organization representing Humanities scholars from 23 countries. This Canberra conference, in conjunction with the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, is only the second time that the Consortium has held its annual meeting in the Southern hemisphere. The theme for the conference, Anthropocene Humanities, explores the effect of the agency of human beings on the earth's ecosystem and the challenges this poses for humanity in the future. Antarctica was chosen as the subject for the exhibition because of the critical place the continent occupies in this hemisphere and in the world in terms of the scientific significance of the physical and natural environment, the vulnerability of its pristine wilderness to the impact of human actions, and its fascination for humanity, not only for explorers and scientists but for humanists and creative artists.