Bartalos

Long before my interest in all things polar, I developed a taste for improvisational music. And in savoring downtown New York’s experimental / avant / underground scene throughout the 1980s and 90s, I savored the innovative guitar work of Henry Kaiser. Henry’s prolific collaborative and solo output reached me through WFMU‘s eclectic radio programming, WKCR’s new music programs, and numerous vinyl, tape, and CD offerings. He likely played frequent gigs around town too, but despite my proximity to the Knitting Factory and considerable time spent in clubs back then, I never managed to see him perform live in New York.

Fast forward to March 11, 2006. I’d since moved to San Francisco and heard that Henry was appearing at the downtown Apple Store that very evening. I dropped everything. There was no missing this. He’d recently produced the music for “Grizzly Man” and shot key footage for “The Wild Blue Yonder.” He’d been to Antarctica numerous times. He had stories to tell.
It was gonna be good.

Henry Kaiser's 2006 presentation at the Apple Store, San Francisco.

It was better than good. He treated the audience to a multimedia presentation of spectacular Antarctic under-ice camerawork accompanied by live guitar and narration. The camerawork was Henry’s of course, combining his talents as professional research diver and underwater cinematographer. The juxtaposition of otherworldly imagery and ethereal guitar was sublime.

Encounters at the End of the World: Henry Kaiser under the ice at Cape Evans.
Photograph by Rob Robbins.

That evening I learned of the NSF’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program which enabled Henry’s 2001 project on (and under) the ice, and would also facilitate his production of Werner Herzog‘s “Encounters at the End of the World.” The program had provided many unique opportunities for creatives working in various media over the years and keeps exalted company.

And now I’m two months from deploying to the ice myself, quite ecstatic about having gotten the go-ahead on my proposal, and honored to be doing it during International Polar Year. There’s much to prepare, and compiling a custom music mix for the trip is on the agenda. The selections will be inspired, adventurous, and… well, Antarctic. At the top of the playlist: the guitar work of Henry Kaiser.

2008 A&W grantees Scott Sternbach, Cheryl Leonard, Michael Bartalos, Lisa K. Blatt, Oona Stern, former program director Kim Silverman, Richard Panek, Anne Noble, Judit Hersko.

There are eight program grantees this year with — I believe I can speak for the group here — eight very exciting projects. We had an opportunity to meet in Denver for a day in June where this picture was taken. My project earned me the title of “Recycle Guy” among the Raytheon crew, but among the artists, I think I’ll be remembered for suavely introducing myself in the hotel breakfast room by felling an upright lamp with a deft sweep of the backpack, dramatically smashing the lampshade to bits. Um, nice to meet you… In any case, the staff replaced the lamp with an identical one with speed and nonchalance that suggested such mishaps were an hourly occurrence, allowing us a good chuckle, still evident at photo time.

As to who’s where now: Henry’s in New Harbor field camp through November 22. His team’s dual blogs are found here and here. Lisa K. Blatt is also currently in Antarctica (McMurdo) with camera in hand, as is Scott Sternbach (Palmer). The rest of us — Cheryl Leonard (Palmer), Richard Panek (South Pole), Anne Noble (McMurdo), Oona Stern (Palmer), Judit Hersko (McMurdo) and I — are patiently waiting in the wings, and will all have deployed by December’s end.

Aurora alongside the ice off Western Base, 1911-1914, by Frank Hurley.

I’m pleased to initiate this blog with the news of an Antarctic Artist’s and Writer’s Program grant I recently received in support of my project titled The Art of Recycling in Antarctica : The Long View.

This National Science Foundation award allows me to access the U.S. Antarctic Program’s waste management system in December and January to create a sculptural book arts project made from recyclable material specific to polar research conducted at McMurdo Station, South Pole Station, and a Dry Valleys field camp (most likely Lake Hoare). The project intends to raise international awareness of resource conservation and eco-preservation practices in Antarctica, and by extension, promote and inspire sustainability worldwide.

The completed artwork (to be assembled back in San Francisco) will consist of 100 individual sculptural vignettes hinged to one another for display as a continuous, free-standing accordion-fold book structure. With this conspicuously lengthy form, I’ll be drawing analogies to taking “the long view” in regards to worldwide environmental consciousness as exemplified by the stringent recycling practices in Antarctica.

The project is inspired by the environmental mandates of the Antarctic Conservation Act and its principles. In an act of exceptional recycling, nearly all the refuse generated by the U.S. Antarctic Program is periodically removed from the continent. I’ll be looking for a variety of usable material representative of the 3.64 million pounds of solid waste generated by McMurdo and South Pole Stations, and I’ll be referring to Antarctic waste management data to conceptually structure my compositions and determine the relative amounts of each material to include.

Aurora Australis front cover and title page, 1908. Edited by Ernest Shackleton, illustrated by George Marston.

Why 100 vignettes? The number is significant to the project in three ways. As I mentioned, the U.S. ships nearly 100% of its refuse off the southern continent. Secondly, the number commemorates the centenary of an early instance of polar recycling. In 1908, Ernest Shackleton fashioned wooden covers from provision crates to bind numerous copies of Aurora Australis, the first book ever published in Antarctica. (This is a fascinating story — look for a separate post on this shortly.) In an homage to this legacy, each of my 100 vignettes will symbolically correspond to each year passed since Shackleton’s example of innovation and resourcefulness. Thirdly, the number represents a coming century (at least) of sustainability. Hence the title The Long View.

By using material unique to each of the three research station’s fields of study, the vignettes will differentiate to form a comprehensive picture of each. For example, I expect to find more recyclables relating to biological and oceanographic fields of study at McMurdo, while South Pole will be heavier in astrophysics and geomagnetism.

These reclaimed elements will be the centerpiece of each artwork. I’ll supplement these compositions with my own drawings, materials, forms, colors, textures, and pigments in order to create a uniquely Antarctic ‘portrait.’ To this end, I’ll also use my time at McMurdo, South Pole and the Dry Valleys to sketch, photograph, and otherwise document the technologies and practices of Antarctic researchers more extensively than could otherwise be possible. Contact with scientists in the field is valuable to my inquiry. I hope to converse with them, take notes, and join excursions if possible, which will all feed into the artwork’s imagery.

The entire process will of course be documented online here — and elsewhere. Yes, there are exciting arrangements and affiliations in the works which will be announced here first. So check back soon and expect to hear much about The Long View in the weeks and months to come.