From our Forefathers: Climate Crisis through Museum Tours

Event Details

Explore the history of climate change through Philadelphia’s museums. Guide Aislinn Pentecost-Farren underlines America’s outsized contribution to this crisis through a sequence of encounters with objects that were present at its origins, from a stove made by enslaved ironworkers to an oil painting of a steam turbine. This project encourages a fresh look at existing exhibitions, revealing the unseen origins of this impending catastrophe hidden within accepted historical narratives, from Indigenous dispossession to the Industrial Revolution.

These 60-minute tours are all FREE; registration is required. ‍

2:30 p.m. May 28, June 4 & June 17 at the Science History Institute (315 Chestnut) ‍

From a nylon stocking to a lightbulb, reconsider our understanding of climate catastrophe by unearthing its origins in modern chemistry.‍

2:30 p.m. May 30, June 13 & June 26 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Take a fresh look at the museum's A Nation of Artists collection to learn about America’s outsized contribution to climate change through a sequence of encounters with objects and contemporaneous pieces of art.

2:30 p.m. June 7, 14, & 28 at the Independence Seaport Museum (211 S. Columbus Blvd.)

The origin stories of the climate crisis are revealed by boat designs, captain’s orders, and marsh fumes. From ships in bottles to paintings of Philadelphia’s lost riverbanks, Pentecost-Farren dredges the complex environmental history of our waterways.

Aislinn Pentecost-Farren is an artist and public historian. She takes museum collections, historic buildings, and overlooked landscapes as the starting point for sculpture, installation, printed media, and public interventions.

Project Description

From Our Forefathers is a series of tours through iconic Philadelphia museums to tell the history of the climate crisis. Aislinn Pentecost-Farren guides participants through America’s outsized contribution to climate change through a sequence of encounters with objects that were present at the origins of the crisis, from Indigenous dispossession through the industrial revolution. Pentecost-Farren re-narrates existing exhibitions in some of our Philadelphia Museums to reveal the unseen origins of climate change hidden within accepted historical narratives. From a stove made by enslaved ironworkers to an oil painting of a steam turbine, Pentecost-Farren attempts to understand catastrophe by starting at the beginning.