Arts of the Air: an evening of words, paintings and histories (event cancelled)

Arts of the Air: an evening of words, paintings and histories

**This event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience**

The Old English ‘Storm Riddle’ takes us riding on the turbulent air of a thousand years ago. Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’ expresses the revolutionary inspiration that Romantic thinkers found in the weather. Virginia Woolf considered the changing air of each century and how it might influence life on the ground. The history of English literature is a history of air and human responses to it. Visual artists, too, have been gripped by this most elusive and omnipresent subject - from the earliest landscape painters to Peter Lanyon depicting the thermals under his glider, they have shaped our ways of seeing and feeling the air around us.

Take your seat for an illustrated talk and anthology of readings woven together by Alexandra Harris, award-winning author of Weatherland: Writers and Artists under English Skies and convenor of the University of Birmingham’s ‘Arts of Place’ network. With help from friends and colleagues who will share their specialist insights, Alexandra will explore some of the very different ways in which air has been perceived and represented in Britain. This atmospheric winter evening will carry us through gales to frosty sunsets - and perhaps a balmy breeze.

This event is presented as part of The Air We Breathe, a brand new public progamme at The Exchange bringing together cutting edge research from across the University of Birmingham. From a hydrogen train to a sci-fi forest, discover how the University is delivering clean air both here in Birmingham and around the world.