500 Years is formed of two connected artworks: one, a performance, the other a painting; both presented at Christie’s, London in December 2023 – during the time of COP28. In the weeks preceding these events, we learned that our planet is on track for almost 3°C of average temperature rise. This performance used music to imagine sea level rise across five centuries – as a result of global warming – from pre-industrial times to a 3°C future. Devised by Cass and featuring violinists Aisling O’Dea, Emma Purslow & Anita Vedres (top banner image), the performance formed part of Christie’s Lates programme Old Masters, New Era.

The accompanying exhibition, curated by Artphilia, channeled through paint what the performance did through sound. A painting by Cass – also titled 500 Years – acted as a counterpoint to Julius Porcellis’s c.1630 seascape Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast, visualising the Dutch Master’s work 500 years on, in a world where climate breakdown has heightened the severity of storm surges and dramatically altered our oceans.

In the below video, note the level of the waterline in two further paintings on display within the gallery – of Venice's Grand Canal by Canaletto – which emphasise the urgency of this issue.