Nomination
www.theresaschubert.com/works/glacier-trilogy1/
www.theresaschubert.com/works/glacier-trilogy2/
www.theresaschubert.com/works/glacier-trilogy3/
The Glacier Trilogy is an immersive artwork investigating glaciers as the starting point of fluvial systems and the future of water in climate crisis. A product of advanced computational technologies (such as generative adversarial networks, atmospheric sensors or realtime ice-fluid simulation for 8K) combined with sculpture materials and human creativity,
The Glacier Trilogy stimulates an emotional engagement of its audience.
The work is based on Schubert’s research of fluvial systems in North-West Italy and an art&science collaboration within START4Water. Glaciers hold extreme importance not only as storages of water but also as the memory of the Earth’s past and archives of millennia-old (an)organic information, allowing scientists to predict future climate scenarios.
Part 1: Starting from abstract imagery, synthetic glacier landscapes unfold on screen, a kind of cybernetic dream from the future that tries to imagine what glaciers once looked like.
Part 2: Several hanging cast-blown glass sculptures function as mini-memorials preserving meltwater from icecore drillings for a distant future.
Part 3: Inspired by the idea of an hourglass, this panoramic video sculpture simulates the emergence and melting process of glacial ice mass in realtime. The exhalation of visitors has a direct impact on the melting process as CO2-sensors in the space are connected to behavioral parameters in the code.
Credits
Funded by: S+T+ARTS4Water
Residency at: Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto and UNIDEE residency program (IT)
Part 1:
Voice & singing: Joseph Schnurr
AI consultation: Moises Horta Valenzuela
Digital resources: customized StyleGAN, EsreGAN, VQGAN models
Physical resources: Photo Archives of the Italian Glaciological Committee Turin (CGI) and Sella Foundation Biella
Part 2:
Glass blowing: JoGa Glass Turin
Icecore meltwater: EUROCOLD Lab, University di Milano-Bicocca
Part 3:
Programming: Sage Jenson
Digital resources: TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 m cell size. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
The project is a result of S+T+ARTS4Water (2021-2022) residency, part of S+T+ARTS (Science, Technology and the Arts), an initiative of the European Commission promoted within the framework of the research and innovation program Horizon 2020, supporting collaborations between artists, scientists, engineers, and researchers.
Biography
In an aesthetic between alchemy and science fiction, Theresa Schubert’s (DE) works question anthropocentrism and enable alternative visions and/or new sensory experiences. Schubert is a Berlin-based artist and researcher exploring unconventional visions of nature, technology, and the self. She holds a PhD in Media Art from Bauhaus University Weimar. Her practice combines audiovisual, algorithmic, and biotech media to immersive / interactive installations, living sculptures, or performances. That includes organic matter and living organisms, code and artificial intelligence becoming part of the artwork not just as material but as meaningful co-creators.
Recently, her work received the Award of Excellence at the Japan Media Arts Festival 2022, SHARE Award 2021, a Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention (AI & Life Art 2021), and a S+T+ARTS Prize 2021 Honorary Mention. She is on the Longlist for the Lumen Interactive Art Award 2022 and the Aesthetica Art Award 2023. She was awarded a STARTS Residency (2019 and 2022) funded by the European Commission, and was artist-in-resident at the Group of Applied and Molecular Microbiology at TU Berlin (2018-20).