A Climate Art Project at the Edge of the World
GHOSTS OF THE ICE
Ghosts of the Ice: A Climate Art Project at the Edge of the World
Summary:
Ghosts of the Ice is a climate art project built from images made in the Arctic. Photographs taken at 80°N become oil paintings, layered with thermochromic pigment that reacts to heat. Warm the surface, or warm the room, and the image begins to vanish. Cool it, and the image comes back. The disappearance is not a metaphor laid over the painting. It is the painting. Oil, scientific material, and narrative storytelling work together to hold memory, fragility, and loss in a single surface. What the viewer sees depends on how long they stand there, and how warm the room gets.
Approach:
Each painting in the series incorporates thermochromic pigments that respond to temperature, revealing or concealing parts of the image as the surface warms or cools. The works are housed in custom-built metal frames embedded with heating coils, allowing the viewer to control the temperature through a simple touch panel. This interaction becomes part of the experience, inviting audiences to engage not just visually but physically. As hidden imagery fades or appears, the artwork mirrors the instability of polar environments, turning the viewer into an active participant in the visual transformation and reflecting our role in shaping the planet’s future.
Project Overview:
The thermochromic pigments respond to temperature shifts controlled by the viewer through custom-built heated frames. As the surface warms or cools, elements of the composition will appear or disappear, echoing how climate change can erase entire ecosystems before our eyes. This concept merges cultural loss with environmental loss, inviting reflection on what we value and what we risk losing forever.
Above: the frame, presented and demonstrated aboard the ship. The whole trip is in the blog, entry by entry.
Each painting is housed in a custom-built frame embedded with low-voltage heating coils. Viewers can adjust the temperature manually, causing thermochromic pigments on the canvas to shift, reveal, or disappear. This interaction mimics climate impact, making each artwork a responsive, sensory reflection of environmental change.
Test Frame Build
Exhibition and Engagement
Ghosts of the Ice is designed for wide public engagement. The full series will travel beyond traditional galleries to reach classrooms, libraries, community centers, and academic institutions. Each installation is supported by short films, visual diaries, and educational materials that contextualize the artwork and open dialogue about environmental change. Artist talks and interactive components will invite audiences to not just view, but feel the loss embedded in each piece. By blending fine art with accessible storytelling, the project brings Arctic realities to people and places that might never witness them firsthand—turning reflection into connection, and connection into care.
As of August 2026, a heated frame is built and tested. Pigment behavior under temperature shift is documented. The Arctic Circle 2026 expedition departed in July aboard the Rembrandt van Rijn. The first chapter of paintings will be made late fall 2026.
Effect and Impact
The heat-sensitive surfaces create a slow, sensory shift in each canvas. As temperatures rise, layers of the painting fade, fragment, or dissolve, only to return as the temperature cools. This visual vanishing act mirrors the disappearing landscapes of the Arctic, where ecosystems are lost not with a roar, but with silence. The project draws a direct connection between climate change and cultural memory, showing how beauty, history, and place can vanish under pressure. The emotional impact is immediate. These paintings are not static objects but climate witnesses—each one a meditation on what is still here and what is already gone.
“Even the most urgent scientific data struggles to move people to action unless they truly care. Art creates that bridge: from awareness to empathy, and empathy to responsibility.” - RMK