Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T04:33:39.834Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

All but blank: Artistic approaches to human Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2019

Jean de Pomereu*
Affiliation:
Associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge,Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Jean de Pomereu, Emails: jd351@cam.ac.uk, jean@jeandepomereu.com

Abstract

The visual arts have played an increasingly important role in examining and critiquing past and present human activities in Antarctica as governed by the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental protection. This paper analyses the work of six artists who have contributed to this scrutiny, awakening us to fabrications and helping to enrich Antarctic cultures beyond the scientific and the environmental. It encourages all signatory nations to the Antarctic Treaty System to embrace and empower a more diverse artistic engagement with Antarctica and suggests that artists find new ways to address threats to the Antarctic, whether they come from within and from without.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, L. (2007). Antarctic Eye: The Visual Journey. Tasmania: Studio One. Google Scholar
Barikin, A. (2015). Parallel Presents: The Art of Pierre Huyghe. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. E. (2017). Antarctica: Feminist art practices and disappearing polar landscapes in the age of the anthropocene. In Dodds, K., Hemmings, A. D., & Roberts, P. (Eds.), Handbook on the politics of Antarctica. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Dobrowolski, C. (2014). Escape. Colchester: Jardine Press.Google Scholar
Esslin, M. (1962). The Theatre of the Absurd. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. Google Scholar
Fox, W. L. (2005). Terra Antarctica: Looking into the Emptiest Continent. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press.Google Scholar
Glasberg, E. (2008). Blankness in the Antarctic landscape of An-My Lê. S&F Online. Retrieved June 13, 2019, from https://sfonline.barnard.edu/ice/print_glasberg.htm Google Scholar
Guggenheim. Collection Online: An-My Lê. Retrieved June 13, 2019, from https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/an-my-le Google Scholar
Hodge, D. (2014). Pierre Huyge: a journey that wasn’t. Retrieved June 12, 2019, from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/huyghe-a-journey-that-wasnt-t12464 Google Scholar
Noble, A. (2014). The Last Road. Auckland: Clouds.Google Scholar
Ponomarev, A. & Samman, N. (2017). Antarctic Biennale. Moscow: Antarctic Biennale.Google Scholar
Price, J. (2017). Antarctica and the traumatic sublime. Environment, Space and Place, 9, 7093.Google Scholar
Sullivan, W. (1961) Assault on the Unknown. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Wells, L. (2012). Landscapes of Exploration. Plymouth: University of Plymouth Press.Google Scholar
Wiseman, R., Gowing, A., & James, R. (2006). Sidney Nolan: Antarctic Journey. Mornington, Victoria: Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.Google Scholar
Yusoff, K. (2009). Climates of sight: Mistaken visibilities, mirages and “seeing beyond” in Antarctica. In Cosgrove, D., & della Dora, V. (Eds.), High places: cultural geographies of mountains, ice and science. London: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd.Google Scholar