Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 24 February
7:30 PM - 8:45 PM
What is art – and why do we make it?
David Walsh – the provocative creator of Hobart’s phenomenally successful Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) – believes that the origins, motivations and possibilities of art require fresh consideration.
In an attempt to move beyond ‘cultural’ ideas of art, he is asking evolutionary biologists, social scientists and neurologists to help him curate an upcoming exhibition at Mona: one that mines the universal, emotional and – therefore, they argue, evolutionary – dimensions of creative expression. ‘Art has a cultural component of course … it is often made and judged by people, and people are cultural,’ Walsh explains. But his omission of art academics is a deliberate ploy aimed at extending the field of inquiry.
So: how deep will Walsh and company go? What will they find – and how will they prove it? As Walsh joins us to question why we engage in acts of imagination that reach beyond our conscious awareness, we’ll explore what creativity means … not only for art, but for humanity itself.
Hosted by Jennifer Byrne.
This event is presented in partnership between Mona and the Wheeler Centre.
Featuring
Jennifer Byrne
Jennifer Byrne is a senior journalist and broadcaster who has worked in all arms of the media: print, radio and television.
Having done her cadetship at the Age and worked on UK’s Fleet Street, she was a founding reporter with Channel Nine’s Sunday programme and spent some 12 years traveling the world for 60 Minutes and as anchor for Foreign Correspondent. She was publishing director of Reed Books, morning presenter on ABC radio, won national awards as interviewer and columnist for the Bulletin and, in May 2006, returned to TV to create the country’s first televised Book Club, which ran on the ABC for 11 years until December 2019.
Alongside books, Jennifer’s favourite pastime – far too serious to be called a hobby – has since the age of two been the playing of games. Including quizzes, cards, board games, and crosswords (physical and electronic). To be invited to become the first Australian host of Mastermind – a show she grew up watching, of course – is the realisation of a dream she didn’t know she had. Jennifer hosted series two of Mastermind plus Celebrity Mastermind in 2020.