Included here are notices of exhibits, lectures, conferences and other gatherings or events of Antarctic interest. Current and closest to the present usually listed first. Go to PAST EVENTS for those that have already happened.
Last updated: 6 July 2010.
Accessed at leastDESCENDANT'S GATHERING Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge. 5 June 2010.
"To celebrate the centenary of the sailing of the Terra Nova from London on 1 June 1910 a reunion for the descendants of Captain Scott's British Antarctic Expedition (1910-1913) will be held at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
If you are a descendant of a member of the expedition and wish to attend the reunion, then please contact Ms Kate Gilbert at the Institute for more details: telephone 01223-336-540"
More information at the A-100 website.
—Suggested by David Wilson.
RACE TO THE END OF THE EARTH American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York.
Exhibition Opens May 29 and remains on view until January 2, 2011. Race to the End of the Earth will recount one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration: the contest to reach the South Pole in 1911-1912. The exhibition will focus on the challenges that the two competing explorersNorwegian Roald Amundsen and British Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott had to face as they undertook their 1,800-mile journeys from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf to the Pole and back. Nutrition, human endurance, equipment, logistics, and Antarctica's extreme weather conditions were among the many challenges that each team had to face, with outcomes that included both triumph and tragedy. The exhibition also reveals the legacy of these early expeditions by linking it with modern science in the Antarctic and the latest research on this unique continent's distant past and its potential future. "The race to the South Pole by Amundsen and Scott is one of the greatest stories of courage, endurance, and perseverance in expedition history," said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. "The Museum can well identify with Scott and Amundsen's thirst for adventure and knowledge about the world as it has, since 1887, conducted thousands of field expeditions to the far reaches of the globe, including to Antarctica, to study the natural world and the cultures of humanity. Today, with their own courage and perseverance, our 200 scientists set off on more than 120 research expeditions each year in an active program of cutting-edge field science which continually deepens our understanding of the world around us." Photographs, paintings, and rare historical artifacts from these Amundsen and Scott expeditions will place visitors in the midst of Antarctic exploration and research at the dawn of the last century. Highlights include actual items of clothing and tools used by Amundsen and Scott and their crews during their journeys; life-sized models of portions of Amundsen's and Scott's base camps; an immersive landscape that provides a dramatic backdrop to the race and transports visitors to the frigid, windswept South Pole; and a diorama featuring the largest of all penguin species alive today, the emperor penguin. Three of Scott's team members took a dangerous five-week expedition dubbed "the worst journey in the world" by expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard to recover emperor penguin eggs for scientific study. Interactives and hands-on activities will help visitors of all ages understand what it would have been like 100 years ago to travel to the coldest place on Earth, as well as what it is like to conduct research there today. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors will be able to choose a character card featuring a Norwegian or British team member and, while moving through the exhibition, find clues about the character's experience enroute to and at the South Pole. With the aid of a touch screen computer kiosk, visitors can leaf through photographs, drawings, and manuscripts produced by the two teams. A stunning video projection will show rich underwater life surrounding Antarctica taken by videographer Norbert Wu. An interactive computer map of Antarctica will allow visitors to scan what lies underneath the ice and to visualize the ocean currents and weather systems. Visitors will also be able to take a personality test modeled after those used for real expeditions to imagine how they might personally fare in an extreme environment over long periods of isolation. The exhibition will vividly re-create, through dioramas and period detail, the high points of the race: how Amundsen and Scott prepared for their polar journeys and how they met, or were defeated by, the numerous challenges they faced. Additional interactives and hands-on activities will reveal what scientists are learning about Antarctica's surprising landscape under the ice and how people manage to live year-round in this forbidding yet fascinating place. Race to the End of the Earth is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
The exhibition is curated by Ross MacPhee, curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History.
Generous support for Race to the End of the Earth has been provided by the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund. American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its extensive facilities and resources. The institution houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and cultural artifacts. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, and the Physical Sciences. In 2006, with the launch of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the Museum, it became the first American museum with the authority to grant the Ph.D. degree. The Museum shares its treasures and discoveries with approximately four million on-site visitors from around the world each year. AMNH-produced exhibitions and Space Shows can currently be seen in venues on five continents, reaching an audience of millions. In addition, the Museum's website, amnh.org, extends its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond the Museum's walls. —From a press release kindly provided by the Museum.
ART OF EXPLORATION: THE POLAR VISION OF SIR WALLY HERBERT Cafe, Discovery Point, Dundee. See http://www.rrsdiscovery.com/index.php?pageID=183
30 May - 30 August 2009.
Grenna Museum, Grenna, Sweden.
June-September 2010.
"This stunning exhibition captures the spirit of the Polar World, as never seen before—through the eyes of a man who is the bridge between the heroic age of exploration and modern adventure; a visionary who has walked in the footsteps of all the greatest explorers, and learned the art of survival from the Inuit themselves.
This superb collection, reproduced from the late Sir Wally Herbert's paintings and drawings, echoes his experiences in the Polar World and his connection with the polar pioneers of the past.
The exhibition is not only a celebration of polar life and landscapes rarely visited by man, but it is also a journey into the very heart of the last of the great polar pioneers. This exhibition will give its audience an insight into the experience of the polar wilderness."
—From http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/polarworld/tour/
(14 February 2009)
FRIENDS OF SPRI EVENTS IN CAMBRIDGELecture #1. 16 October 2010. SPRI Lecture Theatre.
(6 July 2010)
Lecture #2. 30 October 2010. SPRI Lecture Theatre.
Lecture #2. 13 October 2010. BMS Lecture Theatre.
Friends AGM and buffet supper. 13 October 2010. SPRI Lecture Theatre.
ANTARCTICA: MUSIC, SOUND & CULTURAL CONNECTIONSA creative arts conference at The School of Music, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
(6 July 2010)
27-29 June 2011.
"Taking place in the centenary year of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Douglass Mawson, this conference, the first dedicated to this topic, will look at collaborative work including the sonic medium with creative arts and other disciplines. It will highlight the importance of sound (or lack of it) and music as part of the unique Antarctic environment.
The Conference will be open to papers encompassing all of the creative arts. Cross-disciplinary presentations including from areas related to the sciences are particularly welcome."
Web: http:// www.music.anu.edu.au/antarctica
Contact: arnan.wiesel@anu.edu.au
NEW ZEALAND ANTARCTIC FESTIVALChristchurch, New Zealand.
(6 July 2010)
August 2012 and/or August 2014
Contact: Joanna Blair, Events Development Manager
Christchurch City Council
Christchurch, New Zealand
Tel: +64 3 941 6346
E-mail: joanna.blaikr@ccc.govt.nz
SCOTT AND THE AGE OF ANTARCTIC TRAVEL"The Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, UK) is working towards a temporary exhibition in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of Scott's death; currently entitled 'Scott and The Age of Antarctic Travel.' This will be accompanied by a related public events programme."
—Thanks to 'Bergy Bits,' the Newsletter of the Friends of Antarctica, No. 27.
(14 February 2009)