2-4 pm ET
Fire Underground is an animated film by artist Nick Crockett, built in a game engine, which presents an alternative version of the 300 million year history of coal. Hovering between homage and parody, fantasy and documentary, cinema and simulation, it pitches labor history and natural history against the confused representations of Appalachia in popular culture today.
Following the screening there will be a discussion with the artist and curators.
https://ncrockett.com/
Co-sponsors: Carnegie Museum of Art + Carnegie Museum of Natural History
This is a free event–it is not necessary to purchase a ticket to the museum.
SPEAKERS
Nick Crockett, artist and filmmaker
Steve Tonsor, Director of Science and Research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Steve Lyons, art historian and curator, Not An Alternative / The Natural History Museum
BIOS
Nick Crockett is an artist from a former gold mining town in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains who makes experimental games and animation. Nick holds a BA in Design / Media Art from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MFA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Art in Pittsburgh.
Steven J. Tonsor received his PhD in Biology from the University of Chicago. He serves as director of science and research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Steve also runs a program evaluating the environmental impacts of coal mining in Pennsylvania. Before joining the museum, Tonsor conducted research in the laboratory and in the field, applying quantitative evolutionary genetics and the study of form and function to an understanding of how organisms adapt to changing climates.
Steve Lyons is an artist, art historian, and core member of Not An Alternative / The Natural History Museum. His work has been exhibited in art institutions internationally and his writing has appeared in e-flux journal, Jacobin, The Guardian, and Scientific American. He holds a PhD in Art History from Concordia University in Montreal. He is currently a FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Humanities Center of the University of Pittsburgh.
