Stromness [extract from Ice Blink series] - Simon Faithfull - 2005

Ice Blink 2005, Stills (Edinburgh), Cell (London), Parker’s Box (New York) ’Ice Blink’ is a term which refers to the way that light in the polar regions bounces off pack ice to illuminate the thick clouds above - these itense white regions of sky warning sailors of the pack-ice that lies over the horizon. Ice Blink was a lecture, exhibition and book that collected together the body of work made during a two month journey to Antarctica in 2004/2005 (travelling with British Antarctic Survey on their research vessel the RSS Earnest Shackleton). The day before each of these exhibitions opened, the lecture Ice Blink was delivered in a nearby lecture theatre. The video works, drawing and photographs from the exhibition were used within the lecture to illustrate a meandering journey through the myths of polar exploration, the apocayptic science eminating from these regions and the bizare colonial politics that still operate accross the frozen continent. The Ice Blink book published by Bookworks For mor