Early Modern Skies

Organized by Professors Lyle Massey (University of California, Irvine), Vin Nardizzi (The University of British Columbia), Tiffany Jo Werth (University of California, Davis), and Bronwen Wilson (University of California, Los Angeles)

Co-sponsored by the UCLA Edward W. Carter Chair in European Art

Conference organizers are grateful to the Hannah & Edward Carter Endowment for 17th-Century Art History for generous programming support.

Critiquing the environmental humanities’ narrowly earth-centric focus, Carl Phelphstead asks us to look heavenward, to think “cosmocritically” and expand our awareness for how attitudes towards the heaven shape those on earth. What is sky? Both a border for land and sea, and a blank canvas for portents and celestial events, sky reflects fears and hopes for stasis in a changing and unpredictable environment.

This conference will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to explore early modern concepts of sky from a variety of environmentally consequential perspectives, from the history of science and art, to poetics and literature.

The list of speakers, the conference schedule, and the registration form are available on our website.

This event is free to attend with advance registration and will be held in person at the Clark Library.

Registration will close on Monday, February 2 at 5:00 p.m.

Capacity is limited at the Clark Library; walk-in registrants are welcome as space permits.