An echo of failure heard from SAM to Austin, Texas



Melbourne artist, Penny Byrne, explains what
motivated her to created "The Four-Horsemen
 of the Twenty First Century" while Prof
Kate Auty listens on.
 

The failure and seriousness of government hierarchies to grasp and understand the implications of climate change is echoed around the world.

Just last night Melbourne artist Penny Byrne and University of Melbourne Professorial Fellow, Prof Kate Auty, lamented that fact and today it has been reported that the Texan city of Austin has leapt ahead of its State Government to embrace renewable energy.

Penny and Kate were at the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) to discuss the 2009 four-piece sculpture “The Four Horsemen of the Twenty First Century Apocalypse”.

With the SAM owned four-horsemen silently looking on, Penny talked about what motivated her to create the sculpture and reflected on thoughts from Kate that the governments of the world had responded inadequately to climate change and so the need to act had fell upon the people.

A story published on ClimateProgess headed: “One Texas City Plans To Get Over Half Of Its Power From Renewables By 2025” reflects comments made last night by Penny and Kate that governments from local through to national had failed to respond to the call to action on climate change.

Although, in Austin, Texas, as this story shows, it has been the city’s administrators that have acted to take the metropolis down the path of renewable energy.

An Important partnered event: CHANGING HORSEMEN MID-APOCALYPSE

 

By Ian Coldwell

The Four Horsemen of the Twenty
 First Century Apocalypse -
artist Penny Bryne will discuss
what is was that drove her
to create this unusual
art-work held at the Shepparton
Art Museum.

The multiple effects of a changing climate are on many people’s minds these days, including artists.

On Wednesday, December 17,  at 7.30 for 8:00 pm in the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), the Friends of SAM and Slap Tomorrow will present an evening of conversation between Penny Byrne and Kate Auty.

Penny is the ceramic artist dubbed by the Art Collector ‘the porcelain vandal’ who made “The Four Horsemen of the Twenty First Century Apocalypse” back in 2009.

Kate is a Vice Chancellors Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the former Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Victoria. 

SAM acquired Penny Byrne’s beautiful four piece porcelain artwork for the permanent collection in 2010. The horsemen represent a contemporary interpretation of the biblical revelation story of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

In Penny’s story, four of the great cultural challenges to human kind and the many other species of nature on earth are represented through the names of the horses; water shortages, peak oil, food scarcity and over population.

Each of these challenges have been described by philosophers as ‘unintended’ consequences of the phenomenal successes of the industrial revolution, an epoch which is said to be moving beyond its own logic into a phase of self dissolution; a transitional Apocalypse navigated through the ‘risk society’ and it’s promising technologies, to somewhere that is not yet, a time, that we hope will bring a more harmonious and flourishing environment to the world.

Penny Byrne at work on one
 of the four horseman.

Who better to have in conversation about an artwork that encompasses these serious questions than the artist herself, Penny Byrne, and a person who keeps such a watchful eye over environmental sustainability, Kate Auty? 

The committees of the Friends of SAM and Slap Tomorrow are excited to present this opportunity for the public to participate in an important discussion over a drink and a nibble.

The Four Horsemen of the Twenty First Century Apocalypse will be mounted on their steeds and their plinths in the gallery that night. Do come along.