As Ice

Research Background As Ice is the second in a trilogy of exhibitions curated by Castel Belasi – Contemporary Art Center for Eco Thought, exploring elemental forces and their cultural, ecological, and symbolic meanings. Set within a sixteenth-century alpine castle and presented during UNESCO's International Year for the Conservation of Glaciers, the exhibition addresses climate change, fragility, and ecological loss through contemporary art. Conceived in response to accelerating glacial retreat, the project positions ice as both subject and medium through which to investigate broader environmental and existential concerns. It brings together fourteen international artists whose works reveal the entanglement of natural systems and human narratives. Research Significance The exhibition intervenes in dominant environmental discourses by fostering exchanges between artistic practice and scientific research. Artworks act as speculative responses to climate collapse, glacial time, and cultural mythologies, using sound, video, sculpture, and installation to express themes of impermanence and transformation. Philip Samartzis’s Antarctic field recordings offer a key contribution, capturing the complex geophysical and acoustic behaviour of ice. These recordings reveal dynamic processes—fracturing, melting, compression—that are typically inaccessible, making audible the shifting thresholds of climate systems. Research Contribution As Ice contributes new interdisciplinary knowledge to the eco-humanities by reframing glaciers as cultural, political, and spiritual agents. The exhibition models a curatorial methodology that is site-responsive and ethically attuned to environmental futures. Realised in collaboration with MUSE Science Museum Trento—part of a multi-year partnership with Castel Belasi—it demonstrates how long-term institutional collaboration can generate sustained, public-facing dialogue between contemporary art and scientific inquiry into sustainability.

研究背景
《As Ice》是卡斯泰尔·贝拉西——生态思想当代艺术中心策划的三部曲展览中的第二部，旨在探索元素力量及其文化、生态与象征意义。展览于一座16世纪的阿尔卑斯城堡内举办，且正值联合国教科文组织国际冰川保护年期间，通过当代艺术探讨气候变化、脆弱性与生态损失。该项目因应冰川加速退缩而构想，将冰定位为探讨更广泛环境与存在性关切的主题与媒介。它汇集了十四位国际艺术家，其作品揭示了自然系统与人类叙事的交织。

研究意义
该展览通过促进艺术实践与科学研究间的交流，介入主流环境话语。艺术作品作为对气候崩溃、冰川时间与文化神话的思辨性回应，通过声音、影像、雕塑与装置艺术表达无常与转化的主题。菲利普·萨马尔齐斯的南极实地录音是重要贡献，捕捉了冰的复杂地球物理与声学行为。这些录音揭示了通常难以触及的动态过程——断裂、融化、压缩——使气候系统变化的阈值可被听闻。

研究贡献
《As Ice》通过将冰川重新定义为文化、政治与精神主体，为生态人文（eco-humanities）贡献了跨学科新知识。展览构建了一种场域回应性（site-responsive）且伦理契合环境未来的策展方法论（curatorial methodology）。该展览与卡斯泰尔·贝拉西多年合作伙伴关系中的特伦托MUSE科学博物馆合作实现，展示了长期机构协作如何在当代艺术与可持续性科学探究之间产生持续的、面向公众的对话。