Interviewing Greenland’s Ice Sheet Although artists and scientists often work together for a visual rendering of scientific concepts and information, rarely do the two come together in such a close-knit, equal collaboration, in which the germination of the idea and the weaving together of art and science result in an oeuvre in which the scientist explains the science to the artist and the artist gives the artistic view of the science itself, allowing the public to enter the art in order to see the science. The data remains the same, with two different mediaproviding different interpretive perspectives. In this project, five specific events in the history of the Greenland ice sheet are “interviewed”, showing how the art and science are interlinked. “Interviews” is a multimodal art installation that seeks to provide viewers with an embodied understanding of glacial change. Through a range of scientific and artistic methodologies, we identify distinct phases of knowledge-building about Greenland’s ice as opportunities where texture, form, and diverse data can provide openings for encountering an otherwiseoverwhelming or threatening reality. Through “Interviews,” viewers are invited to see in Greenland’s past possibilities for a different future. Interviews, an installation by Francesca Samsel and Benjamin Keisling about the research underway to un-derstand Greenland’s ice sheet history and what that can tell us about its future and ours. The purpose was to show not just the rapidly melt-ing ice but the science and effort that is undertaken to gain an understanding of the ice history so that we can better predict the future. Like all scientific inquiry, our understanding is constantly evolving, refining knowledge of our complex interactive earth systems. . About Interviewing Greenland’s Ice Sheet “Interviews” focuses on progress in our understanding of Greenlend’s evolution over the millennia. The columns, defined by updates in methods of studying the ice, are a testament to the ways that diverse data provide complementary insights to the same question, while at the same time illuminating new questions. The columns highlight the nature of scientific discovery as a continuum rather than a fixed destination. Our knowledge of Greenland’s ice sheet and its evolution will continue to evolve as new technologies are developed and additional site work brings new regions into focus. Keisling identified five major developments that increased the depth of understanding of Greenland’s ice sheet evolution. Each of these breakthroughs is documented by a column and a corresponding 3D representation of the ice sheet coverage revealed. 5 Columns ~ Column One: Marine Seeds, Column Two: Sediments, Column Three: Century-Drilled Ice Cores, Column Four – Deep Radar Reflections, Column Five: Satellite readings, Land Ice Mass Loss, and Sea-level Rise The key information that each datatype considered here has provided is an estimation of the past geometry of the ice sheet on Greenland. Because the ice can take decades to centuries to adjust to a change in its environment, we have to look to the past for clues as to how the ice sheet responded to different conditions. In the process of collecting the data used to create these reconstructions, we often identify new questions, or deepen our existing questions. Video: Interviews with the Ice – Greenland Interviews with Greenland’s Ice: Perspectives from Art and Science VISAP_2024_8_14amDownload
