ON ICE: ART OF THE CULTURAL EMBASSY

Hobartica

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Step inside Mawson Dome to experience experimental artworks by some of the artists from our new project, Hobartica: The Cultural Embassy.

CULTURAL EMBASSY CONVERSATIONS
Step into an experimental Antarctic embassy where ice does the talking.

Discover intimate conversations happening around a slowly melting cubic metre of ice, our frozen "consul general" silently witnessing discussions about Antarctica, connection, and what it means to claim a relationship with a place you'll never visit.

Artists and curious strangers will gather to explore these ideas through spontaneous conversation. You might find one in progress, or be drawn into the circle. Either way, you're welcome to this experimental work-in-progress, part of an ongoing creative development fathoming new ways to connect with our most remote continent.

The cultural embassy will be open for conversations at the following times:

6.30pm Thursday 14 August

7.30pm Friday 15 August

6.30pm Monday 18 August

4pm Saturday 23 August


SALINE
Taste the changing chemistry of Antarctica's waters—one frozen ferment at a time.

The Southern Ocean around Antarctica has traditionally been less salty than other oceans due to sea ice melt and low evaporation. But salinity levels are rising unexpectedly, disrupting the usual ocean layering and creating a feedback loop that hinders sea ice formation. Climate change in action?

Salt happens to be central to food preservation and fermentation too. 'Saline' invites you to taste an 'ice sphere' made from an 18-month ferment of cucumbers, gooseberries, dill, and green Sichuan pepper—all fermented in a 2.8% brine using water from kunanyi.

Salty, sour, fragrant, and floral, 'Saline' connects your taste buds directly to the changing chemistry of our most remote waters.

The SALINE tasting will be available from  5pm – 6.30pm  Monday 18 August

The Cultural Embassy dome will also present An Age of Ghosts, by K.Verell

An Age of Ghosts is an artistic research project that explores Antarctica’s seas and ice as sites of memory, loss, and transformation. Developed during the 2023-24 Antarctic Arts Fellowship aboard the RSV Nuyina, the work emerged from the rhythms of the Great Southern Ocean and the spectre of extinction.

The project questions witnessing a disappearing world, especially one that is not always seen or acknowledged. It explores the echoes of glaciers calving, sea ice drifting, and rising CO2. The work is a shrine for a reimagined future, reframing ecological grief and shifting us from stasis to allow us to feel what data alone cannot.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

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