CURRENT and UPCOMING ANTARCTIC EVENTS

Included here are notices of exhibits, lectures, conferences and other gatherings or events of Antarctic interest. Current and closest to the present usually listed first. Go to PAST EVENTS for those that have already happened.

Last updated: 25 February 2010.

RACE TO THE END OF THE EARTH American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York.
Exhibition Opens May 29 and remains on view until January 2, 2011.

Race to the End of the Earth will recount one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration: the contest to reach the South Pole in 1911-1912. The exhibition will focus on the challenges that the two competing explorersNorwegian Roald Amundsen and British Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott had to face as they undertook their 1,800-mile journeys from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf to the Pole and back. Nutrition, human endurance, equipment, logistics, and Antarctica's extreme weather conditions were among the many challenges that each team had to face, with outcomes that included both triumph and tragedy. The exhibition also reveals the legacy of these early expeditions by linking it with modern science in the Antarctic and the latest research on this unique continent's distant past and its potential future.

"The race to the South Pole by Amundsen and Scott is one of the greatest stories of courage, endurance, and perseverance in expedition history," said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. "The Museum can well identify with Scott and Amundsen's thirst for adventure and knowledge about the world as it has, since 1887, conducted thousands of field expeditions to the far reaches of the globe, including to Antarctica, to study the natural world and the cultures of humanity. Today, with their own courage and perseverance, our 200 scientists set off on more than 120 research expeditions each year in an active program of cutting-edge field science which continually deepens our understanding of the world around us."

Photographs, paintings, and rare historical artifacts from these Amundsen and Scott expeditions will place visitors in the midst of Antarctic exploration and research at the dawn of the last century. Highlights include actual items of clothing and tools used by Amundsen and Scott and their crews during their journeys; life-sized models of portions of Amundsen's and Scott's base camps; an immersive landscape that provides a dramatic backdrop to the race and transports visitors to the frigid, windswept South Pole; and a diorama featuring the largest of all penguin species alive today, the emperor penguin. Three of Scott's team members took a dangerous five-week expedition dubbed "the worst journey in the world" by expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard to recover emperor penguin eggs for scientific study.

Interactives and hands-on activities will help visitors of all ages understand what it would have been like 100 years ago to travel to the coldest place on Earth, as well as what it is like to conduct research there today. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors will be able to choose a character card featuring a Norwegian or British team member and, while moving through the exhibition, find clues about the character's experience enroute to and at the South Pole. With the aid of a touch screen computer kiosk, visitors can leaf through photographs, drawings, and manuscripts produced by the two teams. A stunning video projection will show rich underwater life surrounding Antarctica taken by videographer Norbert Wu. An interactive computer map of Antarctica will allow visitors to scan what lies underneath the ice and to visualize the ocean currents and weather systems. Visitors will also be able to take a personality test modeled after those used for real expeditions to imagine how they might personally fare in an extreme environment over long periods of isolation.

The exhibition will vividly re-create, through dioramas and period detail, the high points of the race: how Amundsen and Scott prepared for their polar journeys and how they met, or were defeated by, the numerous challenges they faced. Additional interactives and hands-on activities will reveal what scientists are learning about Antarctica's surprising landscape under the ice and how people manage to live year-round in this forbidding yet fascinating place.

Race to the End of the Earth is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
The exhibition is curated by Ross MacPhee, curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History.
Generous support for Race to the End of the Earth has been provided by the Eileen P. Bernard Exhibition Fund.

American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its extensive facilities and resources. The institution houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and cultural artifacts. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, and the Physical Sciences. In 2006, with the launch of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the Museum, it became the first American museum with the authority to grant the Ph.D. degree. The Museum shares its treasures and discoveries with approximately four million on-site visitors from around the world each year. AMNH-produced exhibitions and Space Shows can currently be seen in venues on five continents, reaching an audience of millions. In addition, the Museum's website, amnh.org, extends its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond the Museum's walls.

—From a press release kindly provided by the Museum.

ART OF EXPLORATION: THE POLAR VISION OF SIR WALLY HERBERT

Cafe, Discovery Point, Dundee. See http://www.rrsdiscovery.com/index.php?pageID=183
30 May - 30 August 2009.
Grenna Museum, Grenna, Sweden.
June-September 2010.
"This stunning exhibition captures the spirit of the Polar World, as never seen before—through the eyes of a man who is the bridge between the heroic age of exploration and modern adventure; a visionary who has walked in the footsteps of all the greatest explorers, and learned the art of survival from the Inuit themselves.
This superb collection, reproduced from the late Sir Wally Herbert's paintings and drawings, echoes his experiences in the Polar World and his connection with the polar pioneers of the past.
The exhibition is not only a celebration of polar life and landscapes rarely visited by man, but it is also a journey into the very heart of the last of the great polar pioneers. This exhibition will give its audience an insight into the experience of the polar wilderness."
—From http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/polarworld/tour/
(14 February 2009)

---

THE HEART OF THE GREAT ALONE: SCOTT, SHACKLETON AND ANTARCTIC PHOTOGRAPHY

2 October 2009-11 April 2010 The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland.
This exhibition of remarkable Antarctic photography by Herbert George Ponting and Frank Hurley marks the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott's ill-fated journey to the South Pole. Ponting's dramatic images record Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910-13, which led to the tragic death of five of the team on their return from the South Pole. Hurley's extraordinary icescapes were taken during Ernest Shackleton's Polar expedition on Endurance in 1914-17, which ended with the heroic sea journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Both collections of photographs were presented to King George V and are today part of the Royal Photograph Collection.
—http://www.royalcollection.org.uk
(29 May 2009)
—Thanks for Michael Rosove
Two Firsthand Reports:

"The exhibit was exceptionally well done, and the atmosphere of the rooms was highly appropriate for the material."
—Michael Rosove. "I have just visited the display of Ponting and Hurley photographs in the Queens Gallery in the Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh which is open daily until the 11 April 2010. The cost of entrance is £5.50 (although you get a reduction to £5.00 if you are over 60!). The Ponting photographs are all large size (up to 28x22 inches) and one or two are printed on coloured paper. By contrast all the Hurley pictures are small (8x6 inches) and less dramatic for that. Also on display is the Union flag which Scott took to the pole (in remarkably good clean condition) as well as a few printed items (Voyage of the Discovery, Last Expedition, South, The Great White South, South Polar Times 1-3 (the Queen only acquired Vol 3 in 2008 - the other two were acquired by Edward VII), Heart of the Antarctic, three polar medals, a couple of Wilson drawings, the minature white ensign flown on Scott's sledge on the southern journey and a bronze bust of King George V by Kathleen Scott. The royal copy of Aurora Australis MOC[K TU]RTLE [SOUP] was not on display but the "catalogue" (actually a book of 256 pp) says that it has been rebound (shock, horror!). There is an audio guide to some of the photographs as you walk round, which can be achieved in about an hour. . . .
The collection on display is nicely done but I feel does not do justice to the Hurley photographs particularly because of the smaller size. Refering to my copy of "South With Endurance" (the RGS, State Library of NSW, and SPRI compilation volume) there are larger reproductions in that book than were hanging on the wall of the gallery. So all in all there is nothing new here (other than a view of the flag and Polar medals and Wilson prints) that hasn't been seen before, but if you are in the area worth a visit, and you can also buy a bottle of Palace of Holyrood "Royal" Speyside malt whisky in the shop." —Chris Edwards.
(9 December 2009)

69° SOUTH: THE SHACKLETON PROJECT

Saturday, March 13, 2010. 8pm. At Club 8-10 MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA 01247, USA. www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=527

Puppets! Who would have thought?!

"This new work by the exciting young puppet theater company Phantom Limb tackles the extraordinary story of the Shackleton expedition. In 1914, Ernest Shackleton and 27 others set out to be the first team of explorers to cross Antarctica. After their ship, the Endurance, became frozen and was eventually crushed by the ice and sunk, they embarked on a harrowing two-year journey of survival in the harshest climate on earth. Ancient and universal themes including the price of knowledge, the inevitability of adversity and struggle, and ultimately, the power of endurance and camaraderie provide emotional ballast with re-interpretations that resonate powerfully in twenty-first century hearts and minds. The production combines a dark aesthetic with fantastic music (one of the founders, Erik Sanko, was in the seminal downtown NYC jazz group The Lounge Lizards) and the primary focus of this developmental residency will be music for the piece, a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet." (From the website)

"(North Adams, Massachusetts) A smaller-than-life reenactment of the 1914 trans-Antarctic expedition by Ernest Shackleton and 27 brave souls will be played out in 69 South: The Shackleton Project by the exciting young puppet theater company Phantom Limb, directed by Phil Soltanoff. Fresh off a trip to Antarctica, the troupe's founders Eric Sanko and Jessica Grindstaff will be in residence at MASS MoCA prior to this work-in-progress showing of their new work on Saturday, March 13 at 8 PM. During the residency they will focus on combining the music composed for the renowned Kronos Quartet with the action in this historical marionette performance.
Described as "a series of dynamic tableau vivants" this show will take viewers on a journey of adversity, endurance, and camaraderie. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set out on an expedition to be the first to successfully traverse the continent of Antarctica. This ambitious -- and somewhat reckless -- mission set the stage for one of the best stories of human survival, tenacity, and heroics. Before even reaching Antarctica's mainland, Shackleton's boat, the Endurance, became trapped in an ice floe. During the next 497 days, Shackleton and his men lived on the ice, converting the ship into a winter station, and patiently waiting to be freed from the ice and attempt an escape for land and survival. All together the performance aims to bring the unknown Antarctica to an audience and reinvigorate the spirit of forgoing individual glory for the sake of collective survival.
This workshop performance focuses on the musical composition performed live, and aims to involve a portion of the theatrical elements being explored in the creation of the work, including puppetry, photography, and film combined with an unconventional acoustic palette to create an artistic and emotional journey. 69 South: The Shackleton Project is the result of a newly formed puppet theater company Phantom Limb and a chance collaboration with the renowned Kronos Quartet. The two were introduced to each other when Kronos' violinist, David Harrington, asked Phantom Limb's co-founder (and renowned musician) Sanko to trade CDs. The Shackleton Project will be Phantom Limb and Kronos Quartet's second collaboration. For their first collaboration, Dear Mme., Sanko created a marionette stage within a 15-foot tall puppet's chest, where the puppet's romantic dreams were enacted and accompanied by the Kronos performing an original soundtrack composed by Sanko.
Sanko and wife Jessica Grindstaff are relatively new to puppet theater having created their first marionette play, The Fortune Teller, featuring music by Danny Elfman and narration by Gavin Friday in 2006, and recently premiered their latest collaboration with theatre wizard Ping Chong entitled The Devil You Know. Grindstaff has an established reputation as a creator of haunting, meticulously constructed music box dioramas and paintings in wax and chalkboard, while Sanko has been long admired as a singer, songwriter, and bassist in the experimental-alternative music scene, including 16 years as the bassist of the Lounge Lizards, and leader of his own renowned band, Skeleton Key. Sanko emerged in recent years as a talented self-taught puppeteer and Phantom Limb's first creation, a Gothic horror hit whose characters embody the seven deadly sins, was performed to sold-out houses. The Company was subsequently commissioned to create a score and theatrical presentation for Kronos Quartet, with Sanko authoring a musical composition entitled Dear Mme. and the Company devising a live theatrical presentation. The company has become well known for using Sanko's zeal for puppetry and Grindstaff's history as an installation artist, painter, and set designer to create and direct memorable marionette puppetry. Upcoming projects include an adaptation of Lemony Snicket's latest best-selling work for young readers, The Composer is Dead, directed by Tony Taccone and premiering at Berkeley Rep. in Fall 2010.
Tickets for the work-in-progress showing of 69 South: The Shackleton Project are $12. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA is an independent 501c(3) whose operations and programming are funded through admissions and commercial lease revenue, corporate and foundation grants, and individual philanthropy. Except for an initial construction grant from the Commonwealth, and competitive program and operations grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASS MoCA is privately funded: 90% of annual operating revenues are from earned revenues, membership support, and private gifts and grants."
(From a press release)
—Thanks to Seamus Taaffe.
(25 February 2010)

---

FRIENDS OF SPRI EVENTS IN CAMBRIDGE

"With Scott in the Antarctic, Edward Wilson—Explorer, Naturalist, Artist," Isobel Williams. 6 February 2010. 8pm. Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry.

"Penguins to Polar Bears," Paul Goldstein, Photographer. 20 February 2010. 8pm. Wolfson Lecture Theatre.

"Conservation," Fiona Carhill, SPRI Conservator. 6 March 2010. 8pm. Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry.

"The South Sandwich Islands," Bob Headland (in conjunction with the South Georgia Association). 20 March 2010. 8pm. Pfizer Lecture Theatre, School of Chemistry.

Friends Summer Lunch. 10 July 2010. 12pm. In the Institute.

(6 February 2010)

---

"A TERRIBLE BEAUTY" WORKS OF EDWARD WILSON

12 March - 30 May 2010. At Brantwood, Coniston, Cumbria. www.brantwood.org.uk.

(6 February 2010)

---

ANTARCTIC VISIONS: CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT

4-6 September 2008, Christchurch, New Zealand and Hobart, Tasmania in 21-23 June 2010.

"Gateway Antarctica and the English programme at the Univeristy of Canterbury, together with the School of English, Journalism and European Languages at the University of Tasmania, will host a conference examining Antarctica from a cultural perspective. Drawing on the arts, social sciences and humanities, the conference will focus attention on the ways in which we perceive and represent the southernmost continent. This will be followed by a second conference in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2010."

"Call for conference papers

In September 2008 Gateway Antarctica and the English Programme at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, together with the School of English, Journalism and European Languages at the University of Tasmania, will host a conference examining Antarctica from a cultural perspective. Drawing on the arts, social sciences and humanities, the conference will focus attention on the ways we perceive and represent the southernmost continent. This will be the first Humanities-based Antarctic studies conference and will be followed in 2010 by another at the University of Tasmania in Hobart. Keynote speakers will include: Francis Spufford and Margaret Mahy.

Papers of twenty minutes with 10 minute question times are invited. Topics might include:

• Narrating Antarctica
• Antarctica in literature, art and film
• Visualising Antarctica
• Rethinking the heroic era
• Antarctic masculinities
• Postcolonial Antarctica
• Antarctic spatiality
• Antarctic gothic
• Antarctic travel
• Antarctic disasters
• Domestic Antarctica
• Environmental Antarctica
• Antarctic archives and artifacts
• Human-animals relations in Antarctic

For information: www.engl.canterbury.ac.nz/extra/imagining_antarctica.shtml

Email: mark.williams@canterbury.ac.nz

Source: http://www.engl.canterbury.ac.nz/extra/imagining_antarctica.shtml
(11 March 2007)

UPDATE: The dates for "Imagining Antarctica" have been tentatively set for 21-23 June 2010.
(29 March 2009)

UPDATE:

ANTARCTIC VISIONS: CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT
21.06.2010 - 23.06.2010
Location: University of Tansmania - Hobart
Category: Conference

Following the success of the "Imagining Antarctica" conference at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand in September 2008, the University of Tasmania will host "Antarctic Visions," a second conference examining Antarctica from a cultural perspective. Drawing on the arts, social sciences and humanities, the conference will focus attention on the ways we perceive and represent the southernmost continent. Connections with other disciplines - particularly scientific disciplines - are encouraged, as are new approaches to familiar challenges, such as the whaling and climate change debates. While the primary focus of the conference is on the far south, papers which combine Antarctic and Arctic material are welcome. The conference coincides with the Hobart Midwinter Festival, which offers a rich selection of polar-related exhibitions, activities and presentations.

Papers of twenty minutes with ten-minute question times will be invited. Panel proposals are also welcome. At this time, we are giving you advanced notice of the conference. A call for papers, with links to a website, details of registration, abstract submission, etc, will be sent out within the next couple of months.

Source: http://new.arcticportal.org/index.php?view=details&id=100%3Aantarctic-visions-cultural-perspect-on-the-southern-contin&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=72 (4 September 2009)

UPDATE: More detailed information is now becoming available on the Antarctic Visions conference. First, there is now a webpage. Here you can download the Call for Papers and the Registration Form. No agenda is included yet but two Keynote Speakers are announced: Max Jones who wrote The Last Great Quest: Captain Scott's Antarctic Sacrifice, a cultural history of the Scott expedition, and editor of OUP edition of Scott's journals. And Christy Collis, author of a number of articles on Antarctica, concentrating on postcoloniality and spatiality.

The listing of possible topics above has been revised:

• Climate change and the South Polar regions: what can the humanities add to the conversation?
• Antarctica in literature, music, art, photography and film
• The influence of perceptions of Antarctica on policy
• Rethinking the heroic era
• Tasmanian connections to the Antarctic
• Human-animals relations in Antarctic Resource exploitation (including whaling)
• Gender and Polar Studies
• Postcolonial Antarctica Subantarctic islands: histories and cultures
• Polar pastimes
• Food in polar history
• Cultural geography of Antarctica
• Polar psychology
• Antarctic travel and tourism
• Antarctic archives, libraries, artefacts and museums

The convenors of the conference are: Prof. Ralph Crane (University of Tasmania), Dr Elizabeth Leane (University of Tasmania), Dr Steve Nicol (Australian Antarctic Division), Dr Mark Williams (Victoria University of Wellington).

---

SCOTT AND THE AGE OF ANTARCTIC TRAVEL

"The Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon, UK) is working towards a temporary exhibition in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of Scott's death; currently entitled 'Scott and The Age of Antarctic Travel.' This will be accompanied by a related public events programme."
—Thanks to 'Bergy Bits,' the Newsletter of the Friends of Antarctica, No. 27.
(14 February 2009)