Sophia Club

In Search of Elusive Beauty

In a time of upheaval and extremes, old notions of beauty must be reimagined
Is beauty something that reveals the truth of the world to us? Or does it lead us astray through its facade of glamour and pleasure? This evening, together with natural philosopher and curator Dehlia Hannah, we will explore the turbulent history and speculative future of beauty—from discovering the sublime in landscapes ravaged by climate change to the question of how technology influences our prospects for aesthetic joy. Together with composer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, we’ll embark on a multisensory journey of discovery into the strange power of beauty and what it might demand of us at this historic moment.

Dehlia Hannah

Dehlia Hannah is a curator and philosopher of nature, as well as an associate professor of environmental aesthetics in the Department of Art History at the University of Copenhagen. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University, focusing on aesthetics and the philosophy of science. Her research and curatorial practice focus on contemporary artistic engagements with new scientific and technological developments, as well as on cultural responses to the environmental crisis. She is the editor of the *Routledge Handbook of Art and Science and Technology Studies* (Routledge, 2021) together with Rogers et al., of *Julian Charrière: Toward No Earthly Pole* (Mousse, 2020), *Julius von Bismarck: Talking to Thunder* (Hatje Cantz, 2019), *A Year Without a Winter* (Columbia University Press, 2018), and “Placing the Golden Spike: Landscapes of the Anthropocene” (Milwaukee, 2015), co-authored with Sarah Krajewski. Recent exhibitions include “Julian Charrière: Controlled Burn” (2022–23) at the Langen Foundation and “Troika: Buenavista” at the Schirn Kunsthalle (2025). Her forthcoming monograph “Rewilding the Museum” (Hatje Cantz, 2026) examines the museum as a site of rewilding ecology and cultural transformation in our conceptions of nature.

Shahzad Ismaily

Shahzad Ismaily is a Pakistani-American multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and master of improvisation, known for his collaborative and intercultural approaches to music-making. Shahzad plays electric bass, double bass, guitar, banjo, flute, drums, various analog synthesizers, drum machines, and much more. He is active in New York’s downtown scene in the genres of rock, jazz, and experimental music, has contributed to over 400 albums, and is a member of the bands Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs Three, and Ex Eye. He collaborated with Merz and Laraaji on the 2019 album *Dreams of Sleep and Wakes of Sound*, as well as with Arooj Aftab and Vijay Iyer on the 2022 Grammy-winning album *Love in Exile*.

Brigid Hains

Brigid Hains is the editorial director at Aeon Media. As a trained environmental historian, she is driven by a deep curiosity about nature and the human world. The Sophia Club offers Brigid the opportunity to express her love of beauty and art and to share the emotional aspects of her intellectual life.