Art and Activism: Artist Talk with John Quigley

John Quigley is an artist, producer, and activist. Working with environmental advocacy organizations, Quigley established the genre of aerial art as a “unique mix of human installation, aerial photography, and political activism.” Using materials as well as human bodies, Quigley directs the creation of large-scale patterns and images on land, which are fully revealed when seen from an aerial perspective. He has created more than 200 Aerial Art images involving over 200,000 people on seven continents.

In 2014, Quigley was commissioned by Greenpeace to create an installation that would highlight the effects of the rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic. Quigley used copper strips to lay the outlines of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man on a large ice floe. In his presentation, Quigley will talk about this and other projects, and discuss the efficacy of activist art production.

Moderated by Sharon Strover, Philip G. Warner Regents Professor in Communication, Department of Radio-Television-Film, The University of Texas at Austin.

Organized by the Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Exploring the Arctic Ocean.