VIRTUAL 30th International Panorama Council Conference

The annual International Panorama Conferences are intense encounters, connecting the past, present and future of the panorama phenomenon worldwide.

The conferences are the meeting place of IPC members: architects, artists, collectors, conservators, curators, historians and art historians, librarians, museum directors and staff, 360° photographers, researchers, scientists, spatial designers, and virtual and augmented reality specialists. The 2021 IPC Conference will be hosted virtually by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

The International Panorama Council is an international organization of panorama specialists committed to supporting the heritage and conservation of the few existing panoramas dating from the 19th and early 20th century. IPC promotes knowledge and awareness of the panorama, including its current relevance and development.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is home to the Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World, North America’s longest painting. The Grand Panorama is a maritime artwork of national historical importance, authentically depicting a whaling voyage originating from the port of New Bedford in the mid-19th century. It was painted in 1848 by New Bedford artists Caleb Purrington and Benjamin Russell, who took it on tour around the country as a commercial enterprise. The Whaling Museum exhibited the Grand Panorama in its entirety in 2018 in the exhibition A Spectacle in Motion.