paintings, writing, and explorations in sound
It isn't often that bears and icicles get to hang out together; usually bears are in hibernation mode when icicles like to grow. But a unique set of circumstances in northern Yukon sees grizzlies fishing in warm(ish) water each fall when the air is below zero, creating body icicles like the ones pictured here. You… Continue reading Yukon grizzlies: handsome icicle beards
What kind of whisky would would you offer this man? While we wait for meetings in the Copenhagen Climate Conference to draw some conclusions about the future of ice, The Ice Cubicle takes a moment to consider some ice from the past - and what it saved for us. The expedition: It's no news that… Continue reading Shackleton’s 100-yr-old whisky
Black ice, black ice, what's the point of having black ice around in this world? You can't see black ice (no points for visual pleasure) and you can't scrape it up to put it somewhere strategic (zero points for usefulness). It's too hard to lick (no points for enticing the tongue the way an icicle… Continue reading phenom: black ice
To compose for instruments of ice requires a large dose of intuition and a pinch of craziness. How will these instruments possibly sound? One has to guess: most likely softer or probably not so expressive as a traditional instrument. The lowest register of cello and double bass are certainly not as sonorous and dark. What… Continue reading karin rehnqvist: ice music for chamber orchestra
Our waterhole is freezing, of course. Every day before I dip the bucket into the precious liquid, I have to use the axe and reluctantly destroy those wonderful ice crystals that have grown the night before. - Manuela In the first few weeks of The Ice Cube's eager search around the internet for personal stories… Continue reading ice over a water hole
I love watching the Yukon River freeze over in early winter (2nd time for me) because it's a 2-4 week period of continuous drama. Every morning, the river is going to be completely different. And we all know that after freeze-up the river enters deep-sleep mode, which means no more visible river movement until spring.… Continue reading yukon river freeze-up + one sad truck
Northern winter is for sound lovers. Sound travels farther in cold air. The variety of noises thins out in the winter air and tiny acoustic details appear in the spaciousness. Visuals cooperate too: colours ease away and, as a friend says, the landscape looks like a monochrome watercolour. Time for delicate calibrations of the senses.… Continue reading ice/plastic/ice: music vid for vladislav delay
Every year, the George Black ferry chugs across the Yukon River between Dawson City and West Dawson as long as the river is liquid enough for movement. The season of diesel travel is bracketed by break-up (usually early May) and freeze-up (anywhere from late October to late November). While we wait for the river to… Continue reading george black ferry: mini ice-ecosystem
The first artwork I "met" by Charles Stankievech, a Montreal/Dawson City multimedia artist, was his delicate, subtle work Whispers (for WB) at the Parisian Laundry (Montreal) in 2005. For this piece, Stankievech set a series of speakers attached to long, rambling wires along the floor of a skinny concrete hallway. The speakers exuded a wash… Continue reading charles stankievech: DEW project
Since 1994, ice - at least the artificial, skating rink type of ice - has been enjoying its share of ghouls, zombies, bats and black cat action every October when it's time for Halloween on Ice, a figure-skating spectacle dreamed up by skater Nancy Kerrigan. The show has been performed live every year since 1994,… Continue reading halloween on ice: usa + italy
meg walker 