@barryvacker
ABOUT BIG SPACES & DEEP FUTURES. My art: canvas, film/video, installation. Banner is title of my new art film. 2-time int'l award winner for creative work. Author: many books, articles. PhD Univ of Texas-Austin. Select works are below. Joined b-sky 9/2025.
2024. MEDIA THEORY TURNS COOL. Wide-ranging essay connects the dots between monumental land art, the dark sky movement, astronomical observatories, Starlink light pollution and the future of our species. Draws from my int'l award-winning essay: "Hot and Cool in the Media(S)cene."
#future #futurism
2024-2010. MEDIA ENVIRONMENTS. My textbook is in it's 4th edition. The only text to cover media and McLuhan (Medium is Message), Debord (Society of Spectacle), Baudrillard (Symbols of Reality Replace Reality), ecology, science/pseudoscience, and MANY others. Over the years, adopted by 12 colleges.
2024. ROAD TRIP FOR A FUTURE CIVILIZATION. Happy to guest lecture for Dr. Julia Hildebrand's class. Drawing from my forthcoming film—Dark Skies, Hot Planet, Cool Gaze—this talk explores ideas needed to save this civilization or a create a future civilization. #future #futurism #civilization
2023. PROBE FOR A HOT PLANET. Drawing from my new film—Dark Skies, Hot Planet, Cool Gaze—this article looks at 3 iconic sites in the Greater Big Bend Int'l Dark Sky Reserve (largest in the world) and what they say about the human future. #future #futurism
intellectdiscover.com/content/jour...
2023. CHILL OUT. Happy to guest lecture in Dr. Cirucci's course. Two seemingly unrelated things in Philly show a growing planetary movement—the human need for dark skies and connection to the universe. Talk draws from my experiences at observatories and in dark sky reserves. #futurism #darkskies
2021. TWO FUTURES: HOT OR COOL. Drawing from my "MediaScene" art theory, this talk explores two possible long-term futures. HOT is what dominates now, doomed to destruction, mass extinction. COOL is a cosmic chill model for a planetary civilization. #futurism #future
www.academia.edu/100969275/20...
2020. FUTURE SHOCK IN SPACE. Happy to be among the "world's foremost futurists." Future Shock is the premature arrival of the future and inability to handle it. The US and world are future shocked in space, as militarization and colonization rule. A failing species. #future #futurism #FutureShock
2019. SPIRAL VANISHING POINTS. Title slide and pics for talk and video presentation at international art festival in Leon, Mexico. Discussed my int'l award-winning essay and Media(S)cene art. Grateful for the hospitality and overall great experience.
Link to video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3oK...
2018. CHARIOTS OF THE VOIDS. Title slide of my talk which critiqued Ancient Aliens bogus archaeology and Co-Star, the astrology app claiming it uses NASA data. Both are examples of proliferating pseudoscience for coping in our existence amid the voids of a vast and wondrous universe. #pseudoscience
2018. "2001: 50 YEARS LATER." This was a very cool panel discussion, presented to an energetic full house at the art space Gershman Y and streamed live via Facebook and TU-TV. Photo at dinner: Brooke Storms, Jarice Hanson, Julia Hildebrand, myself, Matthew Flisfeder, Andrew Iliadis.
2018. "2001: 4 MILLION YEARS LATER." Talk given at University of Colorado and hosted 2001 screening. Hope I blew the minds of some students/profs! Thanks professor Erin Espelie for the invitation and hospitality. #space #nasa #Kubrick #sci-fi
Full PPT here:
www.academia.edu/35887859/201...
2019. MEDIA(S)CENE. My installation at Media Ecology Convention, Univ. of Toronto. Various photos of main part; other artworks in different areas. Much thanks to those who helped create this (names on sign).
Liza and me in my loft after completing the canvas.
2019. NIETZSCHE'S TELESCOPE (Rope Over Abyss). Mixed-media installation (6 feet x 18 feet) by me and Liza Samuel. Created for my "Media(S)cene" installation for the Media Ecology Convention, Univ. of Toronto. Photo 2 is Liza and me in my loft, after completing the canvas. #Nietzsche #telescope
2019. SPACE STATION ANTHROPOCENE. Mixed-media triptych. Painting by myself & Liza Samuel; acrylic, pumice. 3 panels, 6 feet x 10 feet. Middle image is a massive storm hitting Los Angeles, as seen from the International Space Station. For my Media(S)cene exhibit, Univ. of Toronto. #Anthropoceneart
2019. HOT & COOL MEDIA. Our new Hot-Cool theory for 21st century. Panel, printed canvas. 4’ x 5’. Design: Julia Hildebrand, Sara Falco, myself. Meant to be read as spoken word riff. Developed for my “Media(S)cene” exhibit, 2019 Media Ecology Convention, Univ of Toronto.
medium.com/mediascene/h...
2019. HELLO FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH. Mixed-media, acrylic, pumice, Hubble Deep Field image. 4 feet x 5’ feet. Full-size replica of the NASA Voyager Golden Record. Developed for my “Media(S)cene” exhibit at the 2019 Media Ecology Convention at the Univ. of Toronto.
#nasa #voyager
2019. HOT PLANET, COOL MEDIA. Mixed-media triptych I conceived; painted by me and Liza Samuel; 3 panels, 6 feet x 10 feet. Developed for my “Media(S)cene” exhibit for the 2019 Media Ecology Convention at the Univ of Toronto. #art #mixed-media #ecology
For more:
medium.com/mediascene/a...
2019. "HOT & COOL IN THE MEDIA(S)CENE." Yours truly winning int'l award for art concept from the Media Ecology Assoc: 2019 Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology. Co-winner, Julia Hildebrand, was not there. (Note: award should say "Creators," not "Curators").
medium.com/mediascene/h...
2018. STARING INTO THE BLACK MIRROR. Speakers at the cool event critiquing the series. Great audience, standing room only. L-R: Yours truly, Angela Cirucci (Rowan U), Julia Hildebrand (Eckerd College), Abby Moore (Temple) and event organizer, Leah Maher (Temple). #BlackMirror #sci-fi #philosophy
2018. BLACK MIRROR & CRITICAL MEDIA THEORY. Photo of my anthology, co-edited with Angela Cirucci (Rowan Univ). Mind bending analyses of the series, with contributors from 10 nations and 3 continents. First book on Black Mirror.
#BlackMirror #sci-fi #dystopia #technology #mediastudies
2019. AMERICAN ICONS: "2001." Yours truly interviewed — with Christopher Nolan, Tom Hanks, James Turrell, others — about the meaning of 2001: A Space Odyssey. My part contrasted 2001 with "Planet of the Apes" (1968).
Cool podcast:
theworld.org/stories/2019...
#nasa #space #futurism #future
2017. SPECTER OF THE MONOLITH. Back cover of my book. Like great art, sci-fi films sometimes get it right and show us the true trajectories we face, the all-to-real difference between futurism and barbarism.
Free PDF here:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#future #futurism #space #nasa
2017. SPECTER OF THE MONOLITH. My book presents a radical planetary space philosophy for the human species, inspired by "2001: A Space Odyssey." Far, far different than Musk/Bezos/Star Wars visions. It's for a future civilization, not this one. #nasa #space
Free PDF:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
2015. SELFIES & ZOMBIES. Title of my talk at Zombie(Con) event at Drexel Univ. Selfies/zombies are symbols of narcissism and social destruction, but they are two sides of the same existential condition — how pop culture confronts fears of nothingness and meaninglessness in a vast universe. #zombie
2013. "THE FINAL COUNTDOWN." Yours truly at photoshoot for Temple University magazine article about humanity's fascination with doomsday scenarios. Cool, well-written article, but the pics suggest I am in a lame indie rock band.
2012. Standing room only for my book talk "The End of the World—Again." Amid apocalyptic art exhibit sent by artists across the USA. Part of 3-night symposium (at Philadelphia Mausoleum of Art) inspired by my book.
Free download of book:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#future #futurism #doomsday
2012. WHY THE APOCALYPSE REPLICATES. Speakers on panel about media proliferation of doomsday scenarios. Panel part of 3-night symposium inspired by my book "The End of the World —Again."
Free PDF of book:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#doomsday #apocalypse #futurism #future #mediastudies
2012. THE MELANCHOLIA OF MODERNITY. Speakers on panel about meaning of "Melancholia," the Lars von Trier film. Panel part of 3-night symposium inspired by my book "The End of the World —Again."
Free PDF download of book:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#melancholia #apocalypse #endoftheworld
2012. Posters for 3-night symposium and art exhibit inspired by my book, The End of the World — Again. Packed crowds at Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art.
Free download of book:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#apocalypse #endoftheworld #doomsday #futurism #future
2012. THE END OF THE WORLD — AGAIN. My book shows why apocalyptic beliefs proliferate (fears of the future, fear of vast universe, quest for meaning), the underlying beliefs driving the human species backwards. Book offers antidote, too.
Free download:
temple.academia.edu/BarryVacker
#apocalypse