Be Curious 2019
Hercules' Twelve Labours Today
On Saturday 30th March 2019 The Hercules Project delivered Hercules' Twelve Labours Today at the University of Leeds' open research event, the Be Curious festival, which in 2019 adopted the theme 'Brave New World'. In ancient myth, Hercules made people safe from monsters. Recently he has been re-imaged as a coloniser and a political leader. At Hercules' Twelve Labours Today participants decided whether and how Hercules could improve the world by referring to those images and drawing a new Labour on a postcard. To support artistic choices there will be a number of images on display and available as research resources (both in print and online, e.g. the Hercules Project Pinterest pages). These images will include ancient depictions, Disney's interpretation of the labours, the series by Marian Maguire, which reimagines Hercules as a coloniser of New Zealand (also available through the Royal Museums: Greenwich online gallery), the art honouring Vladimir Putin's 62nd birthday in 2014 and political and other cartoons. All images which will be on display (where copyright permits) are shown below. Postcards of Today's labours, which may relate to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, will be displayed on this website. These images are clickable (the target is the link text displayed) and will then show in a full version (i.e. a thumbnail of part of an image will produce a whole image).
Be Curious - New Labours
The 12 Labours - Roman art
The 12 Labours - Greek art recoloured
The 12 Labours - modern art
The 12 Labours - Disney
The 12 Labours - modern cartoon
1st Labour: the Nemean Lion - Greek art
1st Labour: Nemean Lion - Greek art
1st Labour: Nemean Lion - Greek art
1st Labour: Nemean Lion - Greek art
1st Labour: Nemean Lion - Disney
1st Labour: Nemean Lion - Vladimir Putin
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Greek art
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Greek art
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Greek art
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Greek art
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Greek art
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - modern art - graffiti
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Disney
2nd Labour: Lernean Hydra - Vladimir Putin
3rd Labour: Ceryneian Hind - Greek art
3rd Labour: Ceryneian Hind - Greek art
3rd Labour: Ceryneian Hind - Vladimir Putin
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Greek art
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Greek art
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Greek art
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Greek art
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Disney
4th Labour: Erymanthian Boar - Vladimir Putin
5th Labour: Augean Stables - Roman art
5th Labour: Augean Stables - Roman art
5th Labour: Augean Stables - Disney
5th Labour: Augean Stables - Vladimir Putin
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoon 1805
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoon 1832
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoon 1893
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoon 2007
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoons 2007-2009
5th Labour: Augean Stables - political cartoon 2017
6th Labour: Stymphalian Birds - Greek art
6th Labour: Stymphalian Birds - Disney
6th Labour: Stymphalian Birds - Vladimir Putin
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Greek art
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Greek art
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Greek art
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Greek art
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Greek art
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Disney
7th Labour: Cretan Bull - Vladimir Putin
8th Labour: Horses of Diomedes - Greek art
