Discussion | Southern Discomforts: A Focus on Antarctica

This event presents a conversation with Xavier Cortada, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, and Andrea Polli, moderated by Simone Douglas.

Xavier Cortada has created art installations in the Earth’s poles to generate awareness about global climate change. In 2007, the artist used the moving ice sheet beneath the South Pole as an instrument to mark time. The art piece will be complete in 150,000 years.

Paul D. Miller is an artist, writer, and musician working in New York. Miller is best known under the moniker of his “constructed persona” as “DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid.” His newest book, The Book of Ice, was published in July 2011 by Mark Batty Publishers. Sound Unbound (MIT Press), a collection of writings by notable authors, preceded that. His latest large-scale multimedia performance piece is “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica,” commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music/Next Wave Festival and other highly respected presenters.

Andrea Polli is a digital media artist living in New Mexico. Her work with science, technology, and media has been presented widely in over 100 presentations, exhibitions, and performances internationally. She currently works in collaboration with atmospheric scientists to develop systems for understanding storm and climate through sound. Recent projects include: a spatialized sonification of highly detailed models of storms that devastated the New York area, a series of sonifications of climate in Central Park, and a real-time multi-channel sonification and visualization of weather in the Arctic.

Simone Douglas works across photography, video, and installation, and has curated numerous exhibitions. Her works have been exhibited internationally at, and are held in, collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Her work has also been exhibited at the Photographers Gallery, London; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; The National gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney; and Month of the Photo, Paris.