APPRENTICESHIP TO GLACIOLOGY

An Attempt at Thickening Description for Thinning Ice

Authors

  • Brishty Alam Author
  • Valerie Deifel University of Applied Arts Vienna Author
  • Chloë Lalonde Author
  • Lindsey Nicholson. Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37522/pfa8nt20

Abstract

The first resonance of Issue 1 closes with a photo essay by the collective of artists and scientists Brishty Alam, Valerie Deifel, Chloë Lalonde, and Lindsey Nicholson. They report on their attempt to dwell in the Suldenferner glacier in Austria through various interventions; some poetic, some scientific, some in between glossaries. Instead of representing this living glacier, they critically examine their own impact on the land.

Author Biographies

  • Brishty Alam

    Brishty Alam works with slippages between scientific models and what we might call social, cultural, political, or economic processes. Themes such as migration and value systems permeate her work, which finds expression in sculpture, video, and drawing. Recent exhibitions include Artissima, EXILE Gallery, Turin, and Belvedere 21, Museum of Contemporary Art. Alongside her artistic work, she is also co-president of the VBKÖ (Austrian Association of Wom*n Artists), and has taken part in conferences such as the 6th Forum Carpaticum – Linking the Environmental, Political and Societal Aspects for Carpathian Sustainability, as well as publications such as C.A.T.: Catastrophic Animals on Terra – A Guidebook to Life Elsewhere. She completed her degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, before graduating in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She has taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 2014, where she is Senior Artist at the department of Transcultural Studies, and also lectured at Sculpture & Transmediale Space, University of Arts Linz.

  • Valerie Deifel, University of Applied Arts Vienna

    Valerie Deifel studied theatre, film, and media studies and philosophy in Vienna. From 2007 to 2010, she was a fellow of the Initiativkolleg Senses, Technology, Mise-en-Scène: Media and Perception at the University of Vienna. In 2017, she completed her dissertation on the representation of empty spaces as an aesthetic strategy in experimental films. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Master’s programme in Art & Science at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where her research has focused on multispecies studies and environmental humanities, exploring ecological and non-hierarchical ways of collaboration. She currently aims to support creative and academic writing processes through her teaching.

  • Chloë Lalonde

    Chloë Lalonde is an artist and cultural worker born in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal (so-called Canada). They work following a circular, slow painting and drawing practice that centres intersectional feminism and places an emphasis on accessibility and sustainability, while drawing from their experiences of synaesthesia. Chloë holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts with distinction in Art Education and Anthropology from Concordia University and a Master’s of Arts and Science from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. In 2021, Chloë was awarded the Sustainability Research Award and Sustainability Champion Award from Concordia University for their work at the Centre for Creative Reuse, and research into zero-waste art education.

  • Lindsey Nicholson.

    Lindsey Nicholson is a scientist and artist. Alongside her academic research and teaching, her artistic work is rooted in environmental philosophy and deploys multimedia approaches to explore the boundaries of scientific and artistic inquiry and how they generate meaning in society. Born in the UK she has a degree in geography from the University of Edinburgh, a PhD in glaciology from the University of St Andrews and a Habilitation in atmospheric and cryospheric science from the University of Innsbruck. She has 46 peer reviewed publications on glaciers and climate, and Suldenferner was a key research site for her FWF-funded Elise Richter grant in 2014-2018.

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Published

2025-02-21

Issue

No. 1 (2025): Edge of the Glacier

Section

Articles