500 Years | Painting + Performance at Christie's

Olfactory exhibition (now closed)

Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast

An innovative sensory exhibition centred around Julius Porcellis’s c.1630 painting Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast curated by Artphilia. Two other Old Masters’ works are included in this display, alongside a painting by David Cass – titled 500 Years (after Porcellis) – which acts as a form of counterpoint to the Dutch Master’s work, visualising a future scenario in which global heating has heightened the severity of storm surges and dramatically altered sea-levels.

Performance (now closed)

500 Years

This month we learned that our planet is on track for almost 3-degrees Celsius of global warming. 500 Years was an immersive performance, imagining sea-level rise across five centuries, from pre-industrial times, to a 3-degree-future. The performance summoned through music what the aforementioned painted work does through paint. Devised by Cass and featuring violinists Aisling O’Dea, Emma Purslow & Anita Vedres, the performance was part of Christie’s December 4th programme Old Masters, New Era.