# Presentation: 213640

## Antarctic Artists and Writers Program

- Program Overview
*Kim Silverman, Program Officer*
- August 21, 2006

## Agenda

- Program Purpose and Objectives
- Historical View
- Moving Forward
- Researchers Interacting with Artists and Writers
- 2006/2007 Projects

## Program Purpose and Objectives

- Purpose
- The purpose of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program is to enable serious writings and works of art that exemplify the Antarctic heritage of humankind.
- Expand fundamental knowledge of the region, to foster research on global and regional problems of current scientific importance.
- Increase public understanding of the Antarctic region, including the continent and the surrounding oceans, as well as the associated research and education endeavors.
- Why?
- Antarctica’s unique geographical, political, and cultural characteristics are of intrinsic value and interest to the American public.
- A new perspective on Antarctic research and discovery.

## Historical View

- First of its kind
*Imitation is the highest form of flattery*
- Other programs: Australia (1987), New Zealand, (1997), Great Britain (2002)
- Since its formal inception in 1992, through 2006:
- 444 Proposals Reviewed
- 60 Individual Artists and Writers Selected (through 2005)
- 15 Selected multiple times, including
- Barry Lopez, Writer (1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1998)
- Alan Campbell, Painter (1988, 1989, 1993, 2005)
- Neelon Crawford, Photographer (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994)
- Stuart Klipper, Photographer (1989, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000)
- Ann Hawthorne, Photographer (1990, 1996, 2003, 2005)

## Past Participants Antarctic Artists and Writers Program

## Moving Forward

- New in 2006:
- Early career artists and writers who demonstrate promise, are encouraged to apply.
- Grants.gov
- For 2007/2008 field season, 72 proposals received and reviewed, a 58 percent increase over last year.

## Researchers Interacting with  Artists/Writers

- How can artists and writers work best with researchers?
- Artists/Writers often make direct contact with scientists in the course of doing research for their projects
- Artists/Writers may request to observe or record your work in the field or on station.
- Artists/Writers are occasionally embedded as part of a research team.
- Researchers can work with an artist or writer to have a merit reviewed artists/writers project included as part of their broader impacts.
- Artists/Writers may request to be a member of a research team.

## Upcoming Projects2006-2007 Field Season

- For more information on the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, visit:
*http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=12783&org=OPP*

## Anne Aghion, Filmmaker

**Project**: *Works and Days: An Antarctic Chronicle*
- Work Plan: 16 Weeks in the McMurdo area --- on station and in Dry Valleys remote camp
- Winfly deployment
- 3 People: Director, Camera person, Sound person
- Science Groups: Terry Deshler and Dave Marchant
**Successes**:
- 2005 Emmy Award: *In Rwanda We Say...*

**Notes:**
A Feature-Length Documentary Film
An exploration of the human experience of being a scientist today in the extreme environment of Antarctica. It will focus on the stories of three teams of scientists, and their relationships to their work, to the extraordinary environment that surrounds them, to each other and to themselves. With six to ten main protagonists in all, the
film will be at once compelling, instructive, moving, poetic – and cinematic.

Many films have been done on Antarctic exploration and science. Some are very beautiful. Most tell stories of superhuman challenges overcome, of extraordinary technical feats accomplished. But few, if any, take the time to look more closely, and more slowly. This film will attempt to fill that gap. It will examine the combination of urgency, patience, arrogance and humility that enables the scientists to endure the slow reality of routine in the quest for new
answers, new data, and more questions.

Science:
Terry Deshler, Atmospheric Science --- The project focuses on the development of the Ozone hole and the characteristic of polar stratospheric clouds with measurements from balloon borne instruments launched from McMurdo area at Winfly.

Dave Marchant/Allan Ashworth Earth Science --- The project focuses on paleoclimate and ecological conditions as researchers assess the degree to which variations and diversity of fossil pollen, plants diatoms and insects can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate. 

## Lita Albuquerque, Earth Artist

**Project**: *South Pole Stellar Axis*
- Work Plan: One week in McMurdo area
- Temporary Installation on sea ice
- 5 people: Artist, IT specialist, Astronomer (Dr. Simon Balm), project assistant, and documentary filmmaker.
**Successes**:* *Numerous solo exhibitions, public art projects, media attention, and awards, including:
- Cairo Biennale Prize, Egypt
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (3)
- Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship , Italy

**Notes:**
The project will result in a temporary installation on the ice surrounding the South Pole of a map of the stars above placed around the gnomon-like South Pole marker
(designed and created in cooperation with the N.S.F. and U.S. Geological Survey) whose shadow would show the motion of the sun. Blue reflective disks (on stakes thus removable for zero impact on the environment) of various sizes to correspond with the brightnesses of the stars will be placed in the ice to represent the constellation patterns above. The project will generate extensive photographic and video documentation as well as a series of paintings and writings that will record the extraordinary visual experience of the installation on the Antarctic plateau. This epic artwork will reflect the pattern of the stars above the Poles on a human scale, providing a visual integration of art and astronomy.

Artwork will consist of approx. 200 portable, lightweight circular disks of varying diameters to reflect the brightness's of the stars above that will easily installed on the ice in a 200-foot radius using a GPS device to align them with the stars above. The disks will be removed upon completion for zero impact on the Antarctic environment.

## Dove Bradshaw, Installation Artist

**Project**: *Six Continents*, Sculptural installation
- Work Plan:
- Request of 100 lbs. of Antarctic Salt
- Will not Deploy
**Successes**: Numerous solo and group exhibitions. Work is held by world acclaimed museums and private collections including:
- MOMA, NYC
- Metropolitan Museum of Art , NYC
- National Gallery of Art, DC
- Le Centre Pompidou, Paris
- Moderna Museet, Stockholm

**Notes:**
Six Continents", 2003, is exhibiting first in this gallery. It was prompted by a long-standing desire to make sculptures that change their shape. The two interactive elements are salt and water. Six kinds of salt were gathered from various locales and poured into mounds. Their different natures result from the mineral deposits in each locale: Africa, gray; Antarctica, ivory; Australia, white; Eurasia, brown; North America, green; and South America, pink. Above each mound a calibrated dropping funnel is suspended.

## Xavier Cortada, Installation Artist

**Project**: *ANTARCTICArt Message Mural*
- Work Plan: 3-part project
- Antarctic Message Mural
- Longitudinal Message Mural Installation
- 150,000 Year Journey
- McMurdo with a turn around trip to the S. Pole, 2 people
**Successes**: Commissioned artwork includes :
- The White House, The World Bank. Florida Capitol, HBO, Hershey's, Nike, Global Health Council, International AIDS Conf., Miami-Dade Co. Juvenile Courthouse, Miami Art Museum

**Notes:**
Miami artist Xavier Cortada will travel to Antarctica to develop three art projects that will raise awareness about the continent, its activities and their relationship to our world. In depicting this, the artist seeks to demonstrate how interconnected we as people are to each other and to our planet.
1. Antarctic Message Mural: the creation of a message mural (in collaboration with scientists and researchers in the Antarctic).
2. Longitudinal Message Mural Installation: a South Pole installation of replicas of other message murals the artist has created around the globe.
3. The 150,000 year Journey: The artist will plant an artistic replica of a mangrove seed (made from a yet to be determined non-invasive element) on a 3 km thick
glacial ice sheet at point of the earth’s exact geographic center. Embedded in the moving glacier, the mangrove seed will begin sliding downhill (9.9 meters every
year) in the direction of the Weddell Sea, 1,400 km away. The seed will thus begin its 150,000 year journey towards the sea. The project exploits the terrain of
the South Pole to address a sociological concern of the artist: the travails of an immigrant’s journey --- the displacement, the solitude, the struggle to simply
integrate himself into society. In a more universal way, the Journey explores humankind as it evolves through time.150,000

His work has been shown across four continents and is in the permanent collection of The World Bank. Cortada has been commissioned to create art for government agencies (the White House, Miami City Hall), cultural institutions (Miami Art Museum, Museum of Florida History) and corporations (Nike, Heineken). Major collaborative art projects include International AIDS murals in Switzerland and South Africa, peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus and child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama. 

## Werner Herzog, Filmmaker

**Project**: *Antarctica: The Inner Landscape*
- Work Plan: 5 weeks in McMurdo Area
- 2 people, Director/Sound Recordist and Cinematographer
- Science groups: Phil Kyle, Sam Bowser, Doug MacAyeal
**Successes**:
- Written, and directed more than **40** films, published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.
- Films: more than **80** international awards, which include:
*Grizzly Man*, Sloan Foundation Award (Sundance Film Festival)
- Best Director (Cannes Film Festival)
*Aguirre, The Wrath of God*, considered by critics to be one the top 10 best movies of all time.

**Notes:**
Documentary Feature Film on Antarctica for Discovery Channel. Subject material: The US
Antarctic Program, Science in Antarctica, the Erebus and New Harbor science project groups of Kyle and Bowser, icebergs, and people working in Antarctica: in and around McMurdo.

I would travel to McMurdo with myself and a cameraman. 7 to 10 days there for snow school and shooting some interviews; including helo trip to ice
bergs with Doug MacAyeal to have him talk about ice bergs, global warming, climate change, etc. One week in New Harbor Field camp with Sam Bowser's group to investigate his foram projects and diving under the ice (no diving support requested for this project - underwater hi-def video to be provided by the Bowser group, as stated in his letter of support). Back to McMurdo for a few days. Followed by 1o days at Fang Camp and Erebus with Phil Kyle's group. A few more days in McMurdo. Fly home. Total stay 30-40 days: mid Nov. to mid Dec. 2006. Requesting 4 to 6 hours helo time for 2 passengers to shoot ice bergs, Mount Erebus, and the Ross Sea from
the air.) Back in California we would visit the USC laboratory of Donal Manahan to interview him about Antarctic science, evolution in the cold, the history of Antarctica, and the heroic age of Antarctica exploration. We have spoken directly with all of these PI’s and they have agreed to work together with us. 

## David Ruth, Glass Sculptor

**David Ruth, Glass Sculptor**

**Project**: *Antarctic Ice: Sculpture in Cast Glass*
- Work Plan: 4 weeks at Palmer
- Accompany staff members in zodiacs to see and take molds of various ice formations.
- 2 people
**Successes**: Numerous solo and group exhibitions. Work is held by world acclaimed museums and private collections including:
- Glasmuseum, Denmark
- Corning Museum of Glass, NY
- Oakland Musuem, CA
- Noto Jima Glass Museum, Japan

**Notes:**
I would like to have the opportunity to see the forms first hand, as well as meet some of the people who understand how they came to be the way they are. I would gladly offer my assistance to the scientists I meet. Although I would like to be flexible in my approach to travel on the continent, I hope to see some dramatic ice forms in the glaciers and flows, the sea ice and also rock and ice together. If possible, I would like to take silicone molds off of some of the most dramatic textures for use in my studio. My aim would be to translate this into molded glass for exhibition in galleries and/or museums in the United States.
The purpose of the trip to Antarctica is mainly for observation, but real work begins when I return home. I will build a body of work, consisting of a series of large-scale
glass sculptures. In the studio, with my staff, we have used most of the techniques we will need for making these pieces. I currently have large scale kilns capable of making solid glass castings up to 12 feet tall and hundred or thousands of pounds.