Join Canadian multimedia artist, filmmaker and researcher Peter McLeish for a fascinating exploration of Antarctica through the intersecting lenses of art, science and environmental discovery.
Drawing on years of research into the polar regions, McLeish takes audiences into one of the world's most remote and captivating environments. The lecture features excerpts from Antarctica, a documentary that reveals the continent's extraordinary landscapes, unique wildlife and enduring significance to scientific research. Audiences will also experience selections from Polaris Terrarum, an artistic short film that uses a sequence of McLeish's encaustic paintings to explore the changing polar environment and the effects of global warming through a creative visual lens.
Inspired by the writings of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, the film Antarctica follows journeys across a place shaped by extremes. Audiences will encounter towering glaciers, dramatic ice formations and the challenges faced by those who have ventured into this remarkable wilderness.
McLeish will also discuss the importance of Antarctica to contemporary climate research. Scientists continue to study environmental records preserved within ancient ice, providing vital evidence about Earth's past and helping us understand future environmental change.
Alongside the documentary material, McLeish will reflect on how his creative practice responds to scientific exploration and the polar landscape. His work seeks to make complex scientific ideas accessible through visual storytelling and immersive experiences.
The presentation will also feature excerpts from McLeish's short film Polaris Terrarum ("Polar Earth"), a six-minute visual journey inspired by a series of encaustic paintings exploring the Earth's polar regions from an atmospheric perspective. Through imagery that evokes views from high-altitude aircraft and spacecraft, the film examines environmental change, including the shrinking extent and changing appearance of polar landscapes associated with global warming. Blending art, music and environmental themes, Polaris Terrarum offers a thought-provoking artistic complement to the scientific and documentary elements of the program.
Bringing together documentary film, artistic practice and scientific inquiry, this special presentation offers an engaging perspective on Antarctica's beauty, fragility and global importance.
URL
embed-39b125b2fe
Sigma Octantis
Sigma Octantis is a solitary star in the Octans constellation that forms the pole star of the Southern Hemisphere. Its name is also written as σ Octantis, abbreviated as Sigma Oct or σ Oct, and it is officially named Polaris Australis (/poʊˈlɛərɪs ɔːˈstreɪlɪs/). The star is positioned one degree away from the southern celestial pole of the Southern Hemisphere, lying in nearly opposite direction to the North Star on the celestial sphere.
Peter McLeish is a Canadian multimedia artist, filmmaker and researcher whose work brings together contemporary art and scientific exploration. Trained in physics before completing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Guelph, he has spent decades developing projects inspired by natural phenomena, climate science and emerging technologies.
Over the course of his career, McLeish has presented exhibitions, lectures and film screenings in more than 70 cities across 21 countries. His work has been featured at leading museums and universities, including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum in London, the National Museum of Australia and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. He has also delivered lectures at more than 40 universities around the world.
McLeish is particularly known for his internationally recognised collaboration with atmospheric scientist Dr Walter A. Lyons, which explored the upper-atmospheric phenomenon known as Red Sprites. In recent years his research and creative practice have increasingly focused on Antarctica, climate change and the relationship between humanity and technology. Through film and multimedia installations, he seeks to create meaningful connections between scientific knowledge and public understanding.
