M - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

Max Eastley
Glacial Sound-scape, 2007, Eden Project, Cornwall (detail) � Cape Farewell
days: to start with a layer of water and when that had
frozen, to add a layer of stones. The maximum size he
could do was one metre long by fifty centimetres wide
and fifty centimetres deep and the whole frozen
structure would weigh 150 kilos. During the process he
would freeze ropes into the ice so that it could be
suspended. He could make two, so any structure built to
hold them would have to be capable of taking a weight
of 300 kilos. I also worked with sound engineer Dave
Hunt and we planned that under the suspended ice
would be a metal plate with contact microphones
attached to an amplification system and speakers which
would project the sound of the dripping water and the
stones falling from the ice.
We all hoped that the ice would stay in one piece
when it was suspended. It did. The layer of stones
waited for the inevitable change as the ice transformed
into water and the stones fell onto the plate, punctuating
steady drips with dramatic crashes. It was beautiful,
frightening and moving as it steadily decayed.
My next piece for Cape Farewell was a kinetic
sculpture, Ice Field, shown as part of The Ship - The Art Of
Climate Change exhibition at The Natural History
Museum in London 2006; the Liverpool Biennale, 2006;
Kampnagel, Hamburg, 2007, Madrid and Tokyo, 2008.
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It consisted of eight pieces of resonant glass, formed by
allowing lead crystal to freely melt and solidify, suspended
in front of a panel, each with its own striker and motor.
Each piece of ice-like glass was amplified and the signal
fed into a computer programme, designed by Dave
Hunt, that varied the total amount of amplification, and
delay/reverb. It created an ever-changing sequence of
ethereal notes which rose and fell like the melancholy
bell of a passing ship.
In 2007 I also released an album, Arctic, which
was a realisation of the recordings I made in Spitsbergen.
I have played live with this album at Hamburg
Planetarium and Millenium Park, Chicago, accompanying
David Buckland’s film, Burning Ice. Here is a quote from
the cover:
“Arctic is a series of sonic images. Their composition
involved a process of sifting, editing and constructing
from the many hours of recordings made in the Arctic.
The work is a summation of my experience of the
sublime: exhilaration, fear and an overwhelming sense of
tragedy unfolding before me. I hope that the music
communicates my emotion, passion and concern for this
fragile natural world”.