Art, Science and Activism in the Arctic Circle

Host Partner: Cape Farewell

Location: Disko Bay, West Coast of Greenland

Date: 25 September – 6 October 2008
 
The ambition of David Buckland, artist and Director of Cape Farewell who has organised the expedition, is to inspire a 40 strong crew of artists and scientists to respond to climate change both in the Arctic and on their return. The RSA Arts and Ecology Centre funded RIBA President Sunand Prasad to accompany the voyage, to see for himself the effects of environmental degredation on the Arctic, to press home the need for sustainability in architectural practice, and to create his own installatino/visualisation about greenhouse emissions, The volume of one tonne of CO² [Pictured in the slideshow above].

Aboard a science research vessel, the team will voyagetravelled across the front of the Jakobshavn Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest, which is losing 20 million tons of ice each day.

The climate challenge is a cultural challenge. Together with musicians including KT Tunstall, Laurie Anderson and Jarvis Cocker, composer Jonathan Dove, and artist Sophie Calle, Sunand Prasad is being asked to respond to and inspire a sustainable cultural vision to this potentially devastating climate reality.

Follow the expedition at Cape Farewell - The cultural response to climate change

To see Cape Farewell's Press Release click here

To read Sunand's blog click here.

All photos by Nathan Gallagher for Cape Farewell

Watch William Shaw's interview with Sunand Prasad