Art in ANTARCTICA
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The Markers
National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Artist and Writers
Program awardee Xavier Cortada marks the passage of time by
exploring important world events that have moved the world forward
during the past 50 years.
The South Pole
On
December 14, 1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen was first to reach the South Pole. The geographic South Pole is located near the center
of the Antarctic ice sheet at an altitude of 2800 meters. The ice sheet
covering the Pole is moving at about 10 m per year toward the
Weddell Sea (along the 60 degree West meridian). Each year,
staff at the South Pole station reposition the South Pole marker
to compensate for the movement of the ice.
On October 31, 1956, Lt.
Shinn landed the first plane, "Que Sera Sera," at the South Pole. Three weeks later, on
November 20, 1956, the first South Pole station construction crew
arrived.
On January 4, 1957, the Navt Seabees crew turned
the completed station over to a team of nine scientists, nine
support professionals (e.g.: a doctor, a cook) and a dog who
wintered over and officially opened the base to scientific
exploration.
The Installation
On
January 4, 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the opening of
the South Pole station, Miami artist Xavier Cortada arrived at the
South Pole and planted 51 differently-colored flags along a
500-meter stretch of a moving ice sheet. The last flag was planted
where South Pole stood in 1956, when the Pole became permanently
inhabited. The first, where the South Pole stands fifty years
later.
Each flag is marked with its respective year, and with the
coordinates of a place on Earth the artist selected as important
in "moving the world forward" during that year (e.g.: 1957 is
Sputnik, 1963 is the March on Washington, 1969 is the Lunar
Landing, 1997 is the Kyoto Accord)
while scientists worked in the South Pole.
The Marker flags were exhibited at the Miami Museum of Science and
Planetarium prior to being installed in the South Pole .For
more information visit
http://www.miamisci.org/www/exhibits/markers/
Cortada's Markers
Xavier Cortada selected the following
events to mark how the world has
moved forward in the past fifty years:
1956 |
90°S |
90°S
|
|
Antarctica |
Construction crews arrive at the South
Pole |
1957 |
47°50'N
66°03'E |
47°50'N
66°03'E |
|
Soviet Union
|
Sputnik, the
first satellite to orbit Earth, is launched into space from Baikonur,
USSR |
1958 |
48°52'N
02°20'E |
48°52'N
02°20'E |
|
France |
Pan Am's transatlantic 707 flight
lands in Paris, jet age begins |
1959 |
32°47'N
96°48'W |
32°47'N
96°48'W |
|
United States
|
Microchip is invented |
1960 |
11°21'N
142°12'E |
11°21'N
142°12'E |
|
Pacific Ocean |
Trieste dives to the bottom of the Mariana Trench: 35,813 feet |
1961 |
47°50'N
66°03'E |
47°50'N
66°03'E |
|
Soviet Union
|
Yuri Gagarin is first
man in space
(launched from Baikonur) |
1962 |
42°22'N
71°04'W |
42°22'N
71°04'W |
|
United States |
Rachel Carson's Silent
Spring is published |
1963 |
38°53'N
77°02'W |
38°53'N
77°02'W |
|
United States |
March on Washington for
Civil Rights |
1964 |
40°43'N
74°00'W |
40°43'N
74°00'W |
|
United States |
Beatlemania sweeps America |
1965 |
23°08'N
82°22'W |
23°08'N
82°22'W |
|
Cuba |
Freedom Flights for Cuban refugees
begin |
1966 |
28°40'N
77°13'E |
28°40'N
77°13'E |
|
India |
Indira Gandhi elected
first woman
prime minister of India, the world's largest democracy |
1967 |
33°55'S
18°22'E |
33°55'S
18°22'E |
|
South Africa |
First human heart
transplant |
1968 |
55°45'N
37°35'E |
55°45'N
37°35'E |
|
Soviet Union |
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed
in Moscow, London and Washington, D.C. |
1969 |
28°24'N
80°36'W |
28°24'N
80°36'W |
|
United States
|
The Eagle lands on the
moon
(launched from Cape Canaveral) |
1970 |
13°06'N
59°37'W |
13°06'N
59°37'W |
|
Barbados |
Ra II crosses Atlantic in 57 days |
1971 |
37°21'N
121°16'W |
37°21'N
121°16'W |
|
United States |
Microprocessor is invented |
1972 |
39°55'N
116°25'E |
39°55'N
116°25'E |
|
China |
Nixon visits China |
1973 |
33°86'S
151°22'E |
33°86'S
151°22'E |
|
Australia |
Sydney Opera House is
built |
1974 |
08°59'N
40°10'E |
08°59'N
40°10'E |
|
Ethiopia |
Skeleton of "Lucy," our
3.2 million year old ancestor, is discovered |
1975 |
19°24'N
99°09'W |
19°24'N
99°09'W |
|
Mexico |
United Nations convenes First World
Conference on Women |
1976 |
28°24'N
80°36'W |
28°24'N
80°36'W |
|
United States |
Viking I and II land on Mars
(launched from Cape Canaveral) |
1977 |
01°43'N
44°53'E |
01°43'N
44°53'E |
|
Somalia |
Smallpox eradicated from Earth |
1978 |
53°33N
02°07'W |
53°33N
02°07'W |
|
England |
First test tube baby
born |
1979 |
40°01'N
105°16'W |
40°01'N
105°16'W |
|
United States |
Ten independent living centers were
founded across the US for persons with disabilities |
1980 |
54°23'N
18°40'E |
54°23'N
18°40'E |
|
Poland |
Solidarity strikes
across
Poland |
1981 |
41°08N
73°42'W |
41°08N
73°42'W |
|
United States |
IBM launches personal
computer |
1982 |
50°50'N
0°08'W |
50°50'N
0°08'W |
|
England |
Whale hunting
moratorium enacted |
1983 |
41°54'N
12°27'E |
41°54'N
12°27'E |
|
Vatican City |
Pope John Paul II retracts the ban on
Galileo |
1984 |
37°19'N
122°02'W |
37°19'N
122°02'W |
|
United States |
Apple Macintosh launched |
1985 |
09°02'N
38°42'E |
09°02'N
38°42'E |
|
Ethiopia |
Live Aid concerts raise millions to
reduce famine |
1986 |
14°37'N
121°00'E |
14°37'N
121°00'E |
|
Philippines |
Corazon Aquino leads
People Power to end Marcos
regime in the Philippines |
1987 |
39°46'N
86°09'W |
39°46'N
86°09'W |
|
United States |
Anti-depressant Prozac is introduced |
1988 |
33°27'S
70°40'W |
33°27'S
70°40'W |
|
Chile |
Chile plebiscite ends dictatorship,
ushers in democracy across South America |
1989 |
52°30'N
13°25'E |
52°30'N
13°25'E |
|
Germany |
Berlin Wall is knocked
down |
1990 |
51°04'N
01°51'E |
51°04'N
01°51'E |
|
English Channel |
Tunnel links UK and Europe |
1991 |
55°45'N
37°35'E |
55°45'N
37°35'E |
|
Russia |
Russia becomes "independent" as the
Soviet Union collapses |
1992 |
22°53'S
43°06'W |
22°53'S
43°06'W |
|
Brazil |
First Earth Summit's Rio Declaration has 153 countries
focus on sustainable development |
1993 |
40°11'N
88°26'W |
40°11'N
88°26'W |
|
United States |
World Wide Web browser is created,
distributed |
1994 |
25°45'S
28°10'E |
25°45'S
28°10'E |
|
South Africa |
Apartheid ends in South
Africa, Mandela elected president |
1995 |
44°40'N
111°06'W |
44°40'N
111°06'W |
|
United States |
Grey
wolves return to the American West |
1996 |
76°43'S
159°40'E |
76°43'S
159°40'E |
|
Antarctica |
NASA announces that the
Antarctic's ALH 84001meteorite
points to existence of life on Mars |
1997 |
35°00'N
135°45'E |
35°00'N
135°45'E |
|
Japan |
Kyoto Protocol enacted |
1998 |
03°10'N
101°42'E |
03°10'N
101°42'E |
|
Malaysia |
Petronas Towers topped at 1483 ft., the
tallest building at that time |
1999 |
09°32'N
21°72'E |
09°32'N
21°72'E |
|
Egypt |
Breitling Orbiter 3 hot air
balloon sails non-stop around the world |
2000 |
33°52'S
151°13'E |
33°52'S
151°13'E |
|
Australia |
Cathy Freeman, the Aboriginal runner,
wins Olympic gold |
2001 |
12°03'S
77°03'W |
12°03'S
77°03'W |
|
Peru |
A 4,000-year-old site yielded the
remains of the oldest known city in the New World |
2002 |
15°46'S
47°55'W |
15°46'S
47°55'E |
|
Brazil |
Brazil Soccer wins 5th World Cup |
2003 |
52°13N
00°08'W |
52°13N
00°08'W |
|
England |
Human Genome Project
completed |
2004 |
37°23'N
122°05'W |
37°23'N
122°05'W |
|
United States |
Google, digital music, wireless
technologies and blogs boomed |
2005 |
20°24'N
03°41'W |
20°24'N
03°41'W |
|
Spain |
Spain ends all discrimination based on
sexual orientation |
2006 |
TBA |
0°0'N
0°0'W |
|
Easter Island
|
Scientists discover new species |
2007: |
|
The beginning of a 150,000-year
Journey
At
the location of the 2007 Geographic South Pole marker,
the artist
planted a mangrove seedling from Miami's Biscayne Bay,
25°46'N
80°12'W. ( Cortada's
"150,000-year Journey" project also addresses the passage of time,
asking us to see time in geologic instead of human
time frames. To learn more about the
150,000-year Journey, please
visit
http://www.cortada.com/antarctica/journey. ) |
About the Installation
 |
|
Xavier Cortada's
installation highlights events that have moved our world forward
in the time it has taken the Antarctic ice sheet to move about 500
meters. Cortada chronicles the passage of time by depicting those
events on flags he placed at the South Pole on January 4, 2007. To
accomplish this, the artist:
-
Created 51differently colored flags,
ranging from violet to red,
each sequentially representing years from 1956 to 2006.
-
Marked each flag with the coordinates
of a place where an event took place that moved the world forward
during that given year (e.g., 1963's March on Washington, 1989's
Fall of the Berlin Wall).
- Planted
each year's flag in the location on the ice where all the
meridians converged during that
flag's respective year; that is,
where the South Pole stood during that given year.
(Since the South Pole, 90°S,
sits on a glacier that is in constant motion, its location
on the ice above changes every year).
When the flags were planted they
created a spectrum of color on the white surface of the ice.
The first flag was planted at the location of the 2006 Geographic
South Pole, with each subsequent flag spaced 9.9 meters apart and
aligned in the direction of the Weddell Sea. Since the
glacier below is moving everything in the same direction at 9.9
meters annually, the flags "mark" where the South Pole stood in
any given year-- few places on Earth can so dramatically mark the
passage of time.
Left: The Markers' flags
on display at the Miami Museum of Science before being
installed by the artist in the South Pole. |
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