Earth Sciences & Map Library to host ‘Sensing Ice: Explorations of Knowing Nature’ exhibit

Join us on Thursday, January 27, at 3 p.m. for the opening reception for Sensing Ice: Explorations of Knowing Nature, an immersive multimedia exhibit about the lifecycle of the world’s ice and snow. The exhibit was designed and curated by Department of Environmental Studies PhD graduate, Chris Dunn. It features large-format photography and video from Dunn’s research and music by Alaskan composer, Matthew Burtner, performed and recorded on-site with glaciers. 

The exhibit presents images from different elevations to evoke a global trajectory that is at once measurable and sensual. Dunn’s breath-taking images of the Khumbu Glacier along the flanks of Mount Everest in Nepal represent the world’s highest storehouses of ice and are placed on the first floor of the exhibit. Images of ice formations and transitions descend to images from Greenland’s terrestrial and coastal glaciers as the ice melts into the sea.

“By providing exhibition space and access to our research collections, the Earth Sciences & Map Library is supporting creative work by CU students, staff and faculty. Chris Dunn’s spectacular photography of earth-processes and his eloquent environmental writing is a perfect fit for our branch, since it intersects with our collections focus and typical library users. I know that students especially will appreciate being immersed in this exhibition while they’re in our space,” said Naomi Heiser, University Libraries Map Curator and Metadata Projects Manager.

Viewers are invited to contemplate the evolving human relationship with ice. The Earth's ice is melting. Sea ice is diminishing while ancient ice caps and glaciers pour themselves into the oceans. To most of us, the earth’s icy landscapes seem remote. Yet, the furthest reaches of the earth are responding directly to us and our daily decisions.

Exhibit on view through December 31, 2022