Culture. Knowledge. Nature.
As I prepare to leave New Zealand I am, not surprisingly, thinking about Andrew Carnegie and his contribution to uplifting an understanding and appreciation of culture in the United States and further afield. In 1911 he established Carnegie Corporation of New York to "promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” Carnegie Corporation has... Continue Reading →
The other day I was sent a beautiful short film of the Castlecliff Driftwood and Sand Sculpture Competition for 2105. As I gear up to leave Whanganui in a month, it's started me thinking about what being here has meant and what I've learned along the way. It's the last place I will live on... Continue Reading →
I have the very good fortune to have a wall in my office that is ideal to hang large artworks. It was very recently painted an deep forest green and, even more recently, was installed a magnificent painting of the Whanganui River, by Thomas William (T.W.) Downes in 1896. Earlier this year the work was... Continue Reading →
I'm just about to give a public lecture. It will be at Whanganui Regional Museum in a couple of days' time. The talk is, with some modification, one that I delivered in Japan last month, as a guest of the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tsukuba. The topic of the gathering was the... Continue Reading →
I recently gave a talk to students graduating in Computer Graphic Design at the Universal College of Learning (UCOL) in Whanganui. Here's the talk I gave. Tēnā koutou katoa. Ka nui te mihi atu. Mayor Annette Main, Deputy Mayor Hamish McDouall, Councillors, Trevor Goodwin, distinguished guests and especially graduands, I’m very pleased to be asked... Continue Reading →
Having just posted a book announcement on Art and Ethics on the website of ICOM NATHIST Ethics Working Group (click here for that) has given me pause to think about how the ethics of art touches on natural history. There are many facets to this. For instance, wildlife photography. When we sit down to our television... Continue Reading →
One of the things I've long found interesting is the importance of context in determining our perceptions of what we see. In the context of heritage, the difference between science, art, music and even rubbish, can be determined by the value conferred on it by its context. Last night I had the pleasure of attending the... Continue Reading →
For some reason, known only to my former website hosts, my blog has met an untimely demise. Frustrating, as it was the product of a lot of work and years of Saturday mornings' writing. Gone are the posts about Paul the Octopus, ant mercenaries, the Fountain of Youth, carnivorous plants and vampire moths. Gone are the links to my... Continue Reading →
I just discovered, while doing some research, that the Dutch East India Company had a private army. I was surprised to discover that, assuming it had been more like Macy's meets David Livingston. But it makes sense. Given their acquisitive agenda, coupled with the (quite reasonable) opinion of local people that they would rather keep... Continue Reading →
In my last post, I wrote about immortality. It occurs to me, however, that I left out one of the most important aspects of this phenomenon occuring in popular culture - vampires. The most recent Twilight series (which I haven't seen, I have to admit) is only the latest point in a long history that... Continue Reading →
ERIC DORFMAN 