What Climate Change Might Look Like: Chris Larson's Deep North

Every now and then an artist so vividly articulates a quiet fear that it takes my breath away. Fresh from the celebration of Earth Day, a year long celebration, I wanted to share with you "Deep North" by artist Chris Larson.

Chris Larson, Deep North, 2008, C-Print mounted on aludibond, 35 x 35 inches, Edition of 5 + 2 AP's, Courtesy of magnus muller, Berlin

As an artist, I do not profess any deep knowledge about the science of climate change, but I do have specific images that come to mind when I think about it. There is a moment in "The Inconvenient Truth", for example, when Al Gore explains how the Gulf Stream-- the conveyor belt of ocean currents that guides warm water around what would otherwise be a much colder climate, might break and could theoretically plunge Europe into a rather a rather sudden ice age.

Chris Larson, Deep North, 2008, C-Print, 35 x 35 inches, Edition of 5 + 2 AP's,
Courtesy of magnus muller, Berlin

I too was flummoxed by the idea that "Global Warming" could really cause extreme cold. Isn't the concept of rising sea levels from melting ice sheets and glaciers, destroying island nations and flooding millions of coastal residents by the end of the century enough and quite the opposite? But sudden severe changes in temperature in both directions is the potential result of the monster we've created through years of carbon emissions and environmental neglect.

Victim of Pompeii, A Time-Lapse Metaphor for Man's reaction to Global Warming

Whatever the effect, I anticipate being wholly caught off guard by the kind of earth that awaits us in the future, like a victim of Pompeii. Through his stills and films, Larson taps into the fears of man's impact on the earth while also creating a strange and haunting beauty found in this isolation.

Chris Larson, Deep North, 2008, C-Print mounted on aludibond, 35 x 35 inches, Edition of 5 + 2 AP's, Courtesy of magnus muller, Berlin

I asked Chris what inspired this vision and he told me that while vacationing in Versiox Switzerland, an intense ice storm moved in the night before covering everything. He said it was "gorgeous and apocalyptic." This inspired him to recreate the moment in his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota. In the fall of 2008, he built a house, and then in February, the coldest month of the year in Minnesota, he sprayed hundreds of gallons of water on the house to recreate what he witnessed in Versiox. He then shot a short film inside of the house called "Deep North".

Chris Larson, Deep North, 2008, C-Print mounted on aludibond, 35 x 35 inches, Edition of 5 + 2 AP's, Courtesy of magnus muller, Berlin

Larson's prints in Deep North capture human naiveté and the wrath of mother nature all at once. It provides a space as quiet as a pin drop-- the kind of quiet that only happens in winter-- where we can hear ourselves think. And unlike the other messy apocolyptic visions of say, a nuclear winter or a war torn city, the destruction evokes a much larger force than man at work.

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About the Artist
Chris Larson was born in 1966 in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he still lives and works as an artist and Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota. In 1990, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Bethel College, St. Paul, MN, and in 1992, a Master of Fine Arts at the Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT. His latest work "Deep North" was presented at the magnus muller Gallery in Berlin and at the Rochester Art Center in the winter 2008/09. His next solo show will be at the Burnet Art Gallery at Chambers at the Luxury Art Hotel in Minneapolis, MN. Chris Larson is represented by magnus muller, Berlin (www.magnusmuller.com).

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First Person Artist is a weekly column by artist Kimberly Brooks in which she provides commentary on the creative process, technology and showcases artists' work from around the world. She has also had it up to here with plastic. Come back every Monday for more Kimberly Brooks.

Comments

[WillWilson]

For those who want to see some background reality, I've posted a graph of our energy use from various sources over the last two centuries (from the US DOE's 2006 Annual Energy Review) online at:

http://www.sciencetime.org/blog/?p=116

I've also posted information showing the reality of global warming, and some consequences measured in other organisms:

http://www.sciencetime.org/blog/?p=95

Plots showing increasing sea levels, too:

http://www.sciencetime.org/blog/?p=125

If you simply want to deny reality, well, certainly it makes getting things done just that much harder for the rest of us, but it's a right that represents one of the great things about our country!

Will Wilson

[Proud Bay Man]

The simple problem is a fact on this planet that no one will discuss. Stop having children. This planet is well past it's breaking point. I am certainly glad I was born during the time I was. The past was horrid, and the future is to be disastrous beyond annihilation. Period, end of story. Our story that is.

[SonofLiberty1]

Look up the Fertility Replacement Rate...and then get back to us....

[WoodyCPM]

I think you need to look up the FRR and reread what it says. I don't think you clearly understand it. It is not an argument against overpopulation.

[TimnySlagle]

"Al Gore explains how ...the conveyor belt of ocean currents ... might break and could theoretically plunge Europe into a rather a rather sudden ice age."

Yes it was an interesting theory.

Fortunately, science has since learned there is absolutely no indication of it happening.

Just more fear mongering from St. Albert the Apocalyst.

[davedave]

au contraire! the question is when--earth has gone through lots of climatic shifts, it will have more.

the question is how fast and who will the winners and losers be in the game if it happens fast.

what did the grand canyon say to the colorado river regarding the human condition?

"did you see that?"

d

[TimnySlagle]

Exactly.

The conveyor may slow time, it may speed up.

But it won't happen on a time line that should be of any concern to humans.

[davedave]

addendum--it CAN happen fast.

the trick is to listen to those who can help prevent bad things. and what they're stake is in the shared difficulties.

gore doesn't love polar bears as much as coal mine owners hate regulation, as much as the saudi's love oil money, as much as born agains love the ascension....

d

[USAFree1]

Did I miss something? Hummmmm. The DoD did a study and postulated that this scenario is entirely possible, and they even gave percentages of it happening. In case you don't know squat about science, if enough ice melts in the far north and/or south, the less salty water could get into the Gulf Stream. As it moves north, by golly it freezes because the water isn't salty enough. That is one of many possibilities for the US north of the Mason-Dixon line and almost all of Europe turning into a deep freeze.

[TimnySlagle]

The DoD is a scientific journal?

The latest REAL science shows, that despite all the melting the Arctic has already endured, there has been no detectable slowdown of the conveyor.

[Gpers1111]

This is my neighbor! I watched him build this piece, and will never forget stumbling into the john at 3AM, and he's outside my window, garden hose in hand, spraying the house down inside and out, for a week. (And it was colder than b-jesus, too!) Truly, I find it incredible that anyone could look at the world we live in and not know somethings wrong...

[WilliePilgrim]

That is a beautifully created work of art in both concept and execution. Thanks for bringing it to us. I've lived in a lot of cold places and am fascinated by the concept of a returning ice age's impact on human endeavors from the aesthetic point of view as well.
One thing I especially admire about this work is that it is beautifull in its stillness; frozen and chilling being more than metaphore. It reminds me of the expedition huts of Scott and Shackelton that have been preserved in Antarctica, each with their compelling stories of both hardship and camarederie.
Of course through the current lens of awareness we see this work as projection of our current fears regarding global warming, but the return of an ice age would soon see every human effort being made to capture as much heat as we could by whatever means necessary and the natural order of things will become meaningless if it means billions starving due to cold temps and crop failure. Messing with climate is a precarious business, I'm sure, and images like Larson's underscore that subtley and provocatively.

[Greta1]

Why would all of the scientists who are spending millions of dollars (which could easily be spent on some other worth while research project; there is no shortage) trying to understand climate change want to perpetuate a hoax? What is the pay off for them?

[SonofLiberty1]

Greta1...

Same idea behind "The Moon Hoax" ..inconceivable but nutty people believe it.

[jfor]

Humans will become extinct just as surely as the DoDo bird.

[bridge to somewhere]

You mean eaten by and driven to extinction by invasive species? Gee, I kinda hope so. That would be a fitting end to such a destructive species.

[rh654]

LOL - I remember when we were all being told by the "experts" that the human race was populating so fast that we would run out of food remember "The Population Bomb"?

I live in the upper mid-west and I don't plan on moving or buying additional electric blankets...

[prog]

Instead, we've polluted the environment at a quicker pace than we've run out of food. Hurray for us!

We are changing our environment in ways WE CAN'T EVEN GUESS. And that is the problem.

[hayness]

The reason that didn't happen at the time expected is that humans developed ways of boosting food production.

Those methods have done a tremendous amount of damage to the global ecology. They are unsustainable for the long term and meanwhile have contributed to even more overpopulation.

Eventually we'll do what every other organism on Earth has done and grow past the point of the environment's ability to support us. Then the population will collapse dramatically.

But hey, don't let any inconvenient facts get in the way of having a good time.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

What damage is that--other than deforestation

[rucognizant]

We ARE on the verge of running out of food you fool! Those who noticed have stepped up to the plate and are planting "victory gardens" this year. seed sales are up 50%.
Research the USA emergency food figures, remember the flooded corn fields of last summer, not to mention that Monsanto Corp is trying to gain control of all seeds and patent them, and that food that is available is being contaminated by careless practices. Source of the swine flue suspected to be contaminated manure lagoons at Smithfield plant Vera Cruz. Beef contaminated with Mad COw disease. The incubation period for Jacob Creutz disease ( the human variant) is about 20 years. I predict that we will see an epidemic of that in about 10 years, as the bush administration did a sloppy cover up job of that.

[pat8942]

If it gets warm this summer it's not because the sun moves further north, it's caused by global warming.
I guess global warming in the old days was caused by cave mans fires.
If we really have caused some type of climate change it's already too late to do anything about it, even if we could.
Enjoy the time you have on the planet and quit looking up expecting the sky to fall.

[patrickhenrypress]

Um... the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, nor does it move "further north" or sourh. The earth's tilt on its axis and its distance from the sun both influence the seasons.

If it's too late to do anything about it - which is a falsehood - perhaps it's because folks should've gone to science class more, and listened to Fox News less.

We might not be able to reverse the phenomenon known as clilmate change, but we absolutely have the ability to ameliorate its most destructive aspects IF WE ACT NOW. So, instead of behaving like Chicken Little, claiming the sky is falling, or your garden-variety ostrich with its head firmly stuck in the sand, we need to get busy making those changes in our lifestyles, society and government necessary to lower our carbon footprint, and additionally work on ways to cool the planet enough to slow (and perhaps someday reverse) the destructive warming we are beginning to suffer. Who knows? We might wind up being able to do something about the weather - and that in and of itself would be worth the effort.

[USAFree1]

I will turn 60 this summer. The first real impact of Global Climate Change was when the trade winds over Africa moved north during the late 60s and early 70s. And you can very easily see what that has wrought. I can actually remember when Africa didn't have droughts or famines, and people weren't dying by the 10 of thousands because of those droughts and resulting famines.

[Lib3rator]

i just love mother nature, she always has a way of aweing the human race, ultimately we will lose and mother nature will win... again, just as she has done since the beggining of time. Think about how we treat her and her creation. Shame on us, in due time, in due time.

[JanBjernfalk]

I am fascinated by this phenomenon. Some people seem to think that global warming is the cause of every bad weather event that comes their way, hot or cold, and that global warming will necessarily bring more "extreme" weather in the future.

In the laboratory of urban legend, global warming gets the blame for hurricane Katrina. But hold on, not so fast, says NOAA:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080222_hurricane.html

President Obama recently pointed to the Red River flooding as an example of the dangers of global warming. Unfortunately, his advisers may have neglected to tell him that we had a colder than average winter in that part of the country.

A few weeks ago it was reported that the Antarctic was melting faster than expected:
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/antarctic-ice-melting-faster-than-expected-20090405-9t9v.html
This was of course blamed on global warming.

A week later, it was reported that Antarctic ice was growing:
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2550320.htm
This was also blamed on global warming.

Surely anything can be blamed on global warming. We are only limited by our imaginations.

[CiticenX]

Try and keep up, Jan... global warming will cause extremes of weather, both hot and cold. Not that hard to understand...

[d00derman]

It's called "global warming" not "that part of the country warming"

[JanBjernfalk]

Sorry ... trying to keep up, I promise.

I think the truth is more like: "global warming *might* cause extremes of weather ... except in those cases where it might not".

Here is some science predicting worse hurricanes:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/global-warming-may-be-contributing-to-stronger-hurricanes_10092273.html

and here is some science predicting less:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/global-warming-might-make-atlantic-hurricanes-rarer_10050175.html

Take your pick. Not that hard to understand ...?

[jenneroos]

hello look at the dates on your links...seems like you went backwards without noticing.

[JanBjernfalk]

Not sure about the chars in the link, but if you look at the article itself you'll see the correct date. May have been mis-filed on their server or something. Sorry for any confusion!

[ignorantwillyharper]

Come on in buddy, momma open the ice box door and let him warm his feet.

[missviv]

What an incredible, ephemeral piece. Thank you for posting this!

[pricespector]

So is it global warming or global cooling? I'm confused. I suppose it's just good to cover your butt in case it swings either way.

[amdezurik]

always keep in mind that it is Global Climate Change, the wraming and cooling is how newspapers shortened it to fit their particular brand of stoopid. Just like "partial birth abortion" does not exist but is used by those intent on confusing things. or the fact that there were no "hippies" ever, again just a word that professional doofi used to demean anti-war protesters and early enviromentalists.

[finwiz]

the media's fault!

[alaskan]

Either that or educate yourself. Anyone who's paying attention knows that the environmental nightmare we're facing is best described by the phrase "climate change".

It's not about "covering your butt." It's science. If the planet heats to a certain point, massive melting will occur and cause climate upheaval ---- including parts of modern civilization launching rapidly into a new ice age.

[prog]

If the salinity of the northern Atlantic ocean drops due to influx of enough fresh water (which would be caused by the poles warming and melting, etc.) the cycle that causes cold water to circulate under warmer currents and produces the gulf stream could slow down -- and even stop.

This would cool down the eastern US and western Europe considerably.

Other parts of the world could become extremely hot.

It's global climate CHANGE, you see.

[USAFree1]

Neither. It's Global Climate Change.

[RobHunt]

I want to see a room filled with grapes or cabbage, such that people who live in the room can barely move. If CO2 levels continue to rise, such a scenario COULD occur. My greatest fear is being trapped in a room mostly full of grapes and cabbage...

[Ubikwity]

LOL!