Photo – Tamara Enz

Artist Residency researching vibration through natural phenomena, around the coast of Svalbard.

Picture above – receiving and recording ionospheric sound.Ionospheric sound picked up with a radio receiver – WR-3 VLF ‘whistler receiver’ Recording at away from the boat and its electrical circuits Bjonahamna,78°23,6′ N 016°52,8′ E

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/sferics

My geophone standing in ice on the rock

Research taken during this residency went on to inform and instigate projects Earth Din, All Terrain Training and Skumring. The experience of the trip has resonated in different ways, so much that I didn’t feel able to distil it down to one post. Here are just some elements of the exploration north.

Route of voyage from Longyearbyen took us south to Recherchebreen
77°29,5′ N 014°24,57′ E

North to Ytre Norskøya 79°51,1′ N 011°37,9′ E

Returning to Longyearbyen via the scientific community at Ny Alesund 79°57,6′ N 012°02,5′ E

Getting back through the ice in the zodiac to the Antigua
https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/arctic-sea-ice

Getting to land from the boat involved getting in the zodiacs (inflatables with an outboard motor) with the equipment taking equipment for our various projects. I had a hydrophone with me on this occasion.

On the trip I took this kit and at first it was hard to decide what to take to the landings.
Sound Devices digital recorder 744T
Aqua Audio H2a Hydrophone
Pair of Lavelier mics
AKG C568B condenser shot gun mic
Audio Technica BP 4025
Rode Blimp 2 Windshield & Shockmount
Dead wombat (windshield) for Blimp
Contact mics C series
Geophone Sensor: RTC-4.5hz, 375ohm
Sound devices MM-1 microphone preamplifier
WR -3 ELF-VLF Handheld Radio receiver and antenna

(Thanks to SARU at Oxford Brookes University for the loan of some vital equipment)

 Anchor down Fridtjovhamna, 77°40,5′ N 014°35,02′ E

Taking soundings of the glacier where I can reach it. I tried out geophone, contact mic and hydrophone on the gritty thick edge ice.

https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/inside-ice

Setting out in the zodiac

Snow overnight on deck

Left. Up the rigging with the harness. photo Rachel Abrams

Mid photo the ships compass.

Right. In the sea especially thick wet suit – a bit too big for me. photo Lindsay Halleckson

Glacier meeting the sea inlet

Recording from an inflatable dingy 0.5km from the glacier, picking up the calving where the ice is breaking off the edge of the glacier and crashing into the sea water. It sounds like thunder but isn’t. We are being quiet in the boat, but you can just about hear our movements.https://soundcloud.com/shirley-896949324/glacier-ice-crashing

Hiking up to the lookout at Uitkijck – photo Sarah Gerats

Reaching the farthest northern point of land before sea towards the north pole. In the ships log it says:

Landing Ytre Norskøya – hike towards ‘de Groote Uitkijck’ the big lookout, short hike and landing ‘de Klein Uitkijck’ – the small lookout.

Looking out towards the Pole

Excited to be as far north as possible on land https://vimeo.com/1068222182

Polar bear prints. No bears seen

Rifle for safety

It is law in Svalbard if you are travelling outside the port of Longyearbyen, to have a person with you in the group who has a rifle and is trained in safety in the presence of polar bears. Our 4 guides were experienced at this as well as being mostly artists themselves. I’d not been around guns of any kind let alone women with guns.

Here are the sets of halliards ready to hoist the different sails

The Antigua with her full set of sails

Finally, southwards running with a following wind. Top sails up and main staysail sail, with all hands to hoist. Skipper has been up the rigging to prepare the extra sail. Going 7kn. The sound is the wind and the stays clanking and the waves on the bow…..https://vimeo.com/1068245511

On deck for the aurora – northern lights Skansbukta, 78°31,8′ N 016°01,4′ E

I wondered if my WR -3 ELF-VLF Handheld Radio receiver would pick up any of the northern lights. The boat electrics created too much interference for me to identify the energy from the northern lights.

In the night the start of the northern lights

Crew and artists aboard the Antigua – photo on auto!!

And Nemo the ships dog

Longyearbyen – signs for organising the huskies     

Photo – Dawn Jackson

Many fossils here

Late arctic blooms in ice

Late arctic blooms in the ice

Rock findings

I am posting this on World Glacier Day and I had some conversations with my Antigua artists travellers this morning. Emma Hoette and spoke of climate change – so I will quote her:

“…Yes the climate change thing is huge …. And I think one of the most productive ways to approach it is to realise that there is hypocrisy in all that we do – like flying to a far off land in order to have an experience of a landscape that confronts us with the beauty of the planet… but unless we acknowledge that being a human here on earth has inherent hypocrisy we will never be able to have dialogues we need in order to learn how to navigate this world….

This flag in Chinese say “One World”. Brought here by artist Georgia Rose Murray.

End