The Sublime

The experience of the sublime – a mix of wonder, fear and a sense of the ungraspable or the transcendent – has fascinated artists and theorists since the 17th century. Often conveyed through landscape painting and photography, from the Alps to the Arctic, depicting vast quarries to deserted cityscapes, it has served as one of Western art’s key reference points. But how exactly should we understand the sublime and its history? How does it relate to concepts such as beauty or disaster or trauma? And to what degree can it change as our relationship to nature itself changes? Join philosophers, writers and artists to debate these questions.

Artwork acknowledgements:
0.06 © Arturo Rodríguez, Cumbre Vieja Dia 2, 2021
0.40 © Edward Burtynsky, Salt Pans, 2016, www.edwardburtynsky.com
1.04 © Edward Burtynsky, Salt Pans, 2016, www.edwardburtynsky.com
7.04 © Andreas Gursky, Shanghai, 2000, Art Institute of Chicago
7.58 © Edward Burtynsky, Salt Pans, 2016, www.edwardburtynsky.com
8.06 © Edward Burtynsky. Nickel Tailings No. 30, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 1996, www.edwardburtynsky.com