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.
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).
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.
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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
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.
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
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.
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
The latest REAL science shows, that despite all the melting the Arctic has already endured, there has been no detectable slowdown of the conveyor.
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.
Same idea behind "The Moon Hoax" ..inconceivable but nutty people believe it.
I live in the upper mid-west and I don't plan on moving or buying additional electric blankets...
We are changing our environment in ways WE CAN'T EVEN GUESS. And that is the problem.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ...?
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.