Sunday, 9 September 2012
Polar Visual Culture: Conference - St Andrews
http://www-ah.st-andrews.ac.uk/newsandevents/pvculture/abstracts/
Polar Visual Culture: An International Conference is a two day event to take place in the Arts Building Lecture Theatre of the University of St Andrews on 17-18 June 2011. This conference brings together a diverse, internationally recognised group of scholars from the humanities and social sciences to present new research on the visual culture of polar exploration. The polar environment, and its potential destruction, is now receiving heightened attention in the mass media, with extensive scientific study and urgent results on climate change reported daily. Our objective is to focus attention upon the unique, prolific and hitherto under-examined visual culture - painting and graphic illustration, expedition and frontier narratives, installations and poetic geographies, films and photography - that the expeditions to the two polar regions have inspired since the early nineteenth century, and which forms a fundamental part of our perception of these environments. We invite all those interested in these themes to register for this important conference and join us in St Andrews.
Thomas Joshua Cooper (Professor and Senior Researcher in Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art) TRUE and other Polar Stories two years on the ice
Jan Anders Diesen (Lillehammer University College, Norway) The Cinematic Race to the Poles: Roald Amundsen's South Pole Expedition (1910-12)
and Other Polar Films in the Heroic Era
Robert G. David (Lancaster University) The Rural Imagination and the Arctic
Robert Dixon (University of Sydney) ‘Shackleton's Marvellous Moving Pictures’: The Ontology of the Early Travelogue
Luke Gartlan (University of St Andrews) Revisiting 'Arctic Regions'
Elena Glasberg (Princeton University) 'Living Ice': Contact, Material, Frames
Sophie Gordon (Royal Photograph Collection, Windsor Castle)
At the Ends of the Earth: Polar Images and Royal Collections
Matthew Jarron (University of Dundee) From Dundee with the Whalers: Early Visual Representations of the Arctic and Antarctic
Tyrone Martinsson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) The Andrée Polar Expedition – With Camera towards Death
Shane McCorristine (NUI Maynooth and Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge) Icarian Icescapes and Daedalean Dreamscapes: Envisioning Victorian Arctic Exploration
Alexandra Neel (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles)
Performing Antarctica
Russell A. Potter (Rhode Island College, Providence)
From Panoramas to Early Cinema: Arctic Spectacles 1893-1930
Alistair Rider (University of St Andrews) Ice, Meltwater and Mutability in Contemporary Art
Camille Seaman (Artist-Photographer, Emeryville, California) Connection and Purpose
Arts, Sciences and Climate Change: Practices and Politics at the Threshold
Jennifer Gabrys and Kathryn Yusoff, Arts, Sciences and Climate Change: Practices and Politics at the Threshold. Science as Culture, 21 (1), 2012.
ABSTRACT
Within climate change debates, writers and scholars have called for expanded methods for producing science, for proposing strategies for mitigation and adaptation, and for engaging with publics. Arts–sciences discourses are one area in which increasing numbers of practitioners and researchers are exploring ways in which interdisciplinarity may provide a space for reconsidering the role of cultural and creative responses to environmental change. Yet what new perspectives does the arts–science intersection offer for rethinking climate change? Which historic conjunctions of arts–sciences are most useful to consider in relation to present-day practices, or in what ways do these previous alignments significantly shift in response to climate change? The uncertainty, contingency, and experimentation necessarily characteristic of climate change may generate emergent forms of practice that require new approaches—not just to arts and sciences, but also at the new thresholds, or ‘meetings and mutations’ that these practices cross. Thresholds—narrated here through the figure of ‘zero degrees’—offer a way to bring together sites of encounter, transformations, uncertainties, future scenarios, material conditions and political practices in relation to climate change. Such shifting thresholds and relations lead not to fundamental re-definitions or demarcations of arts and sciences, arguably, but rather to shared encounters with politics. Drawing on philosophies of aesthetics and sciences elaborated by Jacques Rancière and Isabelle Stengers, we point to the ways in which political possibility is entangled with aesthetic-material conditions and practices, and how recognition of these interrelations might enable ‘collective experimentation’ within both creative practices and climate sciences.
Download full text HERE
ABSTRACT
Within climate change debates, writers and scholars have called for expanded methods for producing science, for proposing strategies for mitigation and adaptation, and for engaging with publics. Arts–sciences discourses are one area in which increasing numbers of practitioners and researchers are exploring ways in which interdisciplinarity may provide a space for reconsidering the role of cultural and creative responses to environmental change. Yet what new perspectives does the arts–science intersection offer for rethinking climate change? Which historic conjunctions of arts–sciences are most useful to consider in relation to present-day practices, or in what ways do these previous alignments significantly shift in response to climate change? The uncertainty, contingency, and experimentation necessarily characteristic of climate change may generate emergent forms of practice that require new approaches—not just to arts and sciences, but also at the new thresholds, or ‘meetings and mutations’ that these practices cross. Thresholds—narrated here through the figure of ‘zero degrees’—offer a way to bring together sites of encounter, transformations, uncertainties, future scenarios, material conditions and political practices in relation to climate change. Such shifting thresholds and relations lead not to fundamental re-definitions or demarcations of arts and sciences, arguably, but rather to shared encounters with politics. Drawing on philosophies of aesthetics and sciences elaborated by Jacques Rancière and Isabelle Stengers, we point to the ways in which political possibility is entangled with aesthetic-material conditions and practices, and how recognition of these interrelations might enable ‘collective experimentation’ within both creative practices and climate sciences.
Download full text HERE
Visualizing Antarctica as a Place in Time
Yusoff, Kathryn, 'Visualizing Antarctica as a Place in Time', Space and Culture : International Journal of Social Spaces, 8 (4), 2005.
ABSTRACT
This article presents a chronogeographic account of the Antarctic spatialities that are inflected through the image of the RADARSAT map. Focusing on time as a spatializing operation within the visual geography of globalizing and globally available cartographies, the author questions the multiple geographies that must be considered in a geopolitical account of such a mapping. The subject of this topology is the “event” of the NASA RADARSAT map of Antarctica exhibiting the effects of global warming as a scientific and media event on the Web. Specifically the RADARSAT map documents destruction and also renders it innocuous through technologies of distance. This realization of geopolitical imperatives through scientific visualization reveals particular tensions and operations within Antarctic and global visual cultures. As a narrative cartography, it exhibits how geographic information systems operate in a plurality of visual regimes. The author concludes that the politics of visualizing Antarctica is embedded in the histories of its media production and in this reveals how time has a chronogeographic operation.
HERE
ABSTRACT
This article presents a chronogeographic account of the Antarctic spatialities that are inflected through the image of the RADARSAT map. Focusing on time as a spatializing operation within the visual geography of globalizing and globally available cartographies, the author questions the multiple geographies that must be considered in a geopolitical account of such a mapping. The subject of this topology is the “event” of the NASA RADARSAT map of Antarctica exhibiting the effects of global warming as a scientific and media event on the Web. Specifically the RADARSAT map documents destruction and also renders it innocuous through technologies of distance. This realization of geopolitical imperatives through scientific visualization reveals particular tensions and operations within Antarctic and global visual cultures. As a narrative cartography, it exhibits how geographic information systems operate in a plurality of visual regimes. The author concludes that the politics of visualizing Antarctica is embedded in the histories of its media production and in this reveals how time has a chronogeographic operation.
HERE
Antarctic Exposure: Archives of the Feeling Body
Kathryn Yusoff, 'Antarctic exposure: archives of the feeling body', Progress in Human Geography February 1, 2010.
ABSTRACT
This article examines attempts to capture and form knowledge about the Antarctic landscape through expeditionary photography and embodied practice. It begins with a visual piece. As an antidote to contemporary investment in heroic Antarctic narratives, Action Man, Antarctic Inertia takes the original 1970s special issue Antarctic Action Man on another kind of journey, restaging his adventures through the landscape. Concentrating on the excessive expenditure of explorers' accounts, as opposed to the heroic destinations of the original, this visual mapping considers non-productive landscape encounters in order to explore other possibilities of staging history and geography. The written essay that forms the second part of this article concentrates on the anxieties of representation that emerge from the interplay between mark making and being marked, and the marks that fall beyond this visual register. Using the metaphor of light, which includes both the light cast on a photographic plate and the dubious physical light of the Antarctic landscape, I examine how this marker both constitutes a trace of history and a fleeting form of knowledge production. As a mode of representation, landscape photography simultaneously illuminates and obscures the histories of encounter with landscape. The argument proceeds by looking at how the photographic frame both arrests landscape and points to a subtle beyond (Barthes). Using narratives from the Heroic era (1890s—1910s) expeditions, I then consider how landscape exposure collides with photographic exposure to present other inhabitations that are in excess of the photograph. In these other narratives, the landscape writes through the body to disrupt the heroic narrative of a contained and purposeful body in the landscape. This Antarctic `look back' ultimately points the way to new geographies of visual culture that expand understand ings of the Antarctic landscape. At the same time, by exceeding the visual, this approach provides the grounds for a renewed ethics of engagement with the ability of landscape to inscribe the explorer's body as he inscribes the surface of the continent through embodied journeys and representational practice. In conclusion, I argue for a reciprocal dialogue between landscape and vision, one that acknowledges that vision is entangled with pain, blindness and excess as much as with a clear sighting of encounter.
Full article HERE
COMPARISON: The Supernatural Arctic
Shane McCorristine, 'The Supernatural Arctic: An Exploration', Nordic Journal of English Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2009.
ABSTRACT
The magnetic attraction of the North exposed a matrix of motivations for discovery service in nineteenth-century culture: dreams of wealth, escape, extreme tourism, geopolitics, scientific advancement, and ideological attainment were all prominent factors in the outfitting expeditions. Yet beneath this „exoteric‟ matrix lay a complex „esoteric‟ matrix of motivations which included the compelling themes of the sublime, the supernatural, and the spiritual. This essay, which pivots around the Franklin expedition of 1845-1848, is intended to be an exploration which suggests an intertextuality across Arctic time and geography that was co-ordinated by the lure of the supernatural.
Download the full article HERE
Thursday, 9 August 2012
places to party in McMurdo, Willy Field, and Scott Base.
Of course all work and no play makes any OAE no fun to be around. These are the places to party in McMurdo, Willy Field, and Scott Base. Some places no longer exist except in the beer addled minds of the OAE's...
1992-1996
#1 The Acey-Ducey Club (RIP 1995)
# 2 The Officers Club. (The Coffee House)
Picture courtesy of our friends at http://penguincentral.com/
The "Officers Club" is located by the bowling
ally and bld 155. By the time I was in the squadron the Officers Club had been made
into a "Coffee House" that served espresso and "Starchuck's" types of
drinks. Irish Coffee was one of the best drinks served. It was a nice place to
hang out and be mellow, play cards or pool. On Sunday afternoons the "local
talent" would perform, which was pretty cool.
#3 The Chief's Club (Southern Exposure)
The "Chief's Club" is located next to bld 155
and in front of the Erebus Club. In 1992 the Chief's Club was still the Chief's
Club. It was an open bar after 10 PM on the weekends, but it was "off
limits" to us poor non-Chiefs. In 1993 the NSF took the Chief's Club away, and
it was renamed the Southern Exposure Club. We (VXE-6er's) avoided this
club on weekdays after it was taken away from the Chief's........
#4 The Erebus Club (Gallaghers)
The Erebus Club is located behind bld 155 and Medical.
This was the "Enlisted Club" and the "open bar" for everyone.
This was the party bar as it has a dance floor, pool tables, a hamburger grill, and a
sports bar. This was the place to be for "Saturday Night Live" in
McMurdo. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow is another day... After the
Acey-Ducey club closed the Erebus Club became the Day Bar. Now you could get off
work, have a few beers, walk to bld 155 and eat breakfast, back to the bar, and then to
your home. Of course day check would get to check you out.....In 1997 Master Chief
Galleger (ret) died in McMurdo a few weeks after the winter over season started. He
had retired from the US Navy and was working for ASA as the Housing Officer. The
club was renamed in his honor.
#5 The Officers Wardroom
The Officers Wardroom was located on the second deck of
bld 155. This is where "Officer's Country" was located. They had the
"good deal" up there as the Officers of VXE-6 and NSFA had their own mess.
It was stocked up with the best New Zealand beers and the prices were right.
How did I know? C'mon, I was a an LC-130 Loadmaster..unless it came by ship we
"transported" everything.. Why else would we have 2,000 lbs of "squadron
gear" on every flight... Of course it was "off limits" to the
Enlisted people..... But it "seemed" to be one of the places to be for the
"after hours" parties and where the Herc Crews could get together and debrief
their flights. The downside to it? The CO and XO of NSFA were down the hall,
and the CO and XO of VXE-6 were on the other side of the hall.
#6 The Chief's Club part II
The Chief's Mess was located on the first deck of bld
206. The majority of the Chiefs lived on the first deck of bld 206. Each deck had a
tv lounge, so the first deck tv lounge was turned into the Chiefs Club, or more accurately
the Chief's Mess. They had a nice tv, radio, and pool table, along with a very
nicely stocked bar. How did I know? See the Officers Wardroom above. The
Chiefs Mess was another place to go after hours to have a beer or two and a great place to
get that "special training" only a US Navy Chief can give. If you were not
a Chief you had to be an invited guest to have a cold one.
Scott Base Pub
The Scott Base pub is located at the New Zealand base
about halfway down the Willy road. This was one of the best bars in Antarctica,
although it was kind of small. It was an "invitation only" type of pub for
all non Kiwi's. Of course that never stopped me...
Willy Field Tavern
The Willy Field Tavern was located (of course) at Willy
Field. If you lived or worked at Willy Field then this was the place to be.
None of that sissy Mac Town foo foo bars for the real men of VXE-6!! If you
were a FNGY looking to be packed then this was the place to be. The Willy Field
Tavern always reminded me of that country bar in the movie "The Blues Brothers".
All it needed was chicken wire.... The Willy Field Tavern was where the
"King and Queen" contest was held...until PC'ness reared it's ugly head.
The Willy Field tavern was closed down in 1994 when the housing at Willy was
condemned. Of course, the following season due to a housing shortage the housing at
Willy Field was reopened. The Tavern and the chow hall were not reopened though.
A couple of AE's liberated some of the decorations from the Tavern and the
barbershop chair and opened up Willy Field South in the lounge of their dorm. It was
the place to be when Herbies blew in at Willy....
Icestock
Icestock is the local talent concert from McMurdo, Willy
Field, and Scott Base getting together and having an outdoor concert and hippie happening.
It was a great time to play Frisee-Bee, drink, and have fun. The Chili
Cook-Off was at the same time if I remember correctly.
Halloween
The Halloween party is the first major blow-out of the
summer season. It was held in the Helo Hanger, and was the way to start off the
season!! Of course there was a Halloween Costume Contest. It was a
requirement!!
Thanksgiving
There is no actual party for Thanksgiving, but the
chowhall went all out for Thanksgiving Dinner. You had to select a time when
you wanted to eat, so you would get with a bunch of friends and get a time block of
tickets. It was the first dress-up event of the year.
Christmas
The Christmas party is held in the ASA Heavy Shop.
This was the best party of the year. They had BBQ'd steaks with all of the
BBQ fixings. People were on their best behavior, plus the fact that the close of the
summer season was coming.
New Years eve!!
The New Years eve party is held in the Gym, and was the
biggest party of the year!! This was the party where actual kegs of beer from New
Zealand were brought down, and the one night where everyone checked their brains at the
door!! The party only ended when all of the kegs were floating and the last of the
bottles were in the recycling bin.
The Party Scene
As originally published HERE:
Parties and Cultural Events
Following is a list of most of the major parties and cultural events in McMurdo. It is not meant to be comprehensive, however.The McMurdo cultural scene is always evolving, and new theme parties and events (like the Beach Party) are constantly springing up. The venues of these events also tends to change, depending on what building is most available or most appropriate at the time.
Flag-Tying Party:
In order to find their way over the trackless ice and snow, researchers need to establish flagged "roads." These roads consist of bright orange or green flags tied onto bamboo poles and stuck into the ice at regular intervals. Even in the worst storm, people out on the ice or snow can find their way back to camp with a good flagged road.
These flags don't come tied to poles, though. And that's the reason for the first party of the new austral summer season: the flag-tying party. For the promise of free beer, soda, and food, a large percentage of the McMurdo population convenes in a large building (usually the vehicle repair garage) for an evening of tying flags to bamboo poles. It's generally a low-key party, with a DJ providing music and a little impromptu dancing between the shuffling of bamboo bundles and cardboard boxes of individually wrapped flags. Perhaps the nicest thing about the flag-tying party is that it's the first occasion where the soon-to-depart winter-overs and the newly arrived summer support people can come together and interact in a social gathering. It's marked by camaraderie, a feeling of working together toward a good cause, and a lot of laughter. It's always been my favorite party.
Halloween Party:
In direct contrast to the flag-tying party is the Halloween party. October is one of the busiest, most stressful months of the summer season, and by the end of it people are ready for some release. The gymnasium is set aside and lavishly decorated by volunteers. At least one band (and sometimes it's two or three) sets up to play, usually at about 160 decibels, and a DJ fills in the blank spots during breaks.
People go all out on their costumes. I have always been amazed at the ingenuity and creativity displayed by some of the costumes at the Halloween party. It's even more remarkable because almost every costume is created from scratch, from materials available on station. This has to be what Halloween was before the days of costume shops, and before drug stores filled their aisles with rubber masks. In that sense, Halloween in McMurdo is almost purist, in a way it can no longer be in American cities. It is truly a celebration of creativity and unadulterated fun.
Thanksgiving:
This holiday is marked by quiet gatherings of friends, both before and after the big feast. The galley staff, with the help of numerous volunteers, prepares a dinner as good as any celebrated in the U.S. Because the population is so large, everyone must make a "reservation" and arrive at a particular hour. (If everyone arrived at the same time, the line would stretch around the building.) Even so, people usually have to stand in line for 30 minutes or so, but there are friends to talk to and hors d'oeuvres to munch on.
Thanksgiving is a pretty quiet holiday. I suspect that is partly because this is the first day off anyone has had (except for Sundays) since they arrived in McMurdo. Also, November is as busy a month as October, and after two solid months of a non-stop, frenetic pace (9-hour days and 6-day workweeks), people are starting to get a little worn out.
Penguin Bowl:
In years past, the Penguin Bowl football game was a big affair. Two teams would square off on Thanksgiving Day at a makeshift football field on the snow of the Ross Ice Shelf. That tradition seems to have waned in recent years, however.
Christmas and New Year:
By the end of December, the pace has slowed slightly. Many scientists have left McMurdo to be home in time for Christmas. The holiday in McMurdo is somewhat bittersweet. Most of the contractor personnel are happy about having two short work weeks in a row (Christmas and New Year's Day), since by now people are starting to get burned out. But most miss being with their families.
On Christmas Eve, there's another station-wide party, with music and lots of food, but it's nowhere near as rowdy as Halloween. The Christmas Choir performs during the party, which is usually held in the garage these days. In past years the party has been held in the carpenter's shop and, in 1990, in the unfinished Crary Laboratory.
After
the party, there's a choir recital and carol sing-along in the dining
hall. Despite the absence of family, there's something quite peaceful
about celebrating Christmas in Antarctica. Perhaps it is the complete
absence of commercials. (No one's trying to sell you anything, so the
Christmas Spirit arrives unsullied by advertisements and commercialism.
It's very liberating.) Perhaps it is because you are a million miles
away from everything else, away from the war, crime, and other problems
of the world. Or perhaps it is because you are in one of the most
beautiful places on Earth, just a few hundred of you in a frozen corner
of the world, surrounded by as much white as any Christmas could ever
want. Whatever the reasons, Christmas in McMurdo always seemed to me to
be more peaceful than anywhere else I'd been.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day bring another station-wide party, a myriad little semi-private parties, and another welcomed day off. Better yet, New Year's Day marks the beginning of the real Antarctic cultural season.
Icestock:
The brainchild of the indefatigable Dane Terry, the Icestock Music Festival started during the 1989-1990 austral season and it has been a tradition ever since.
Dane saw the vast resource of talented musicians that came to work in McMurdo every year, and he decided to bring them all together in one musical extravaganza. It was a huge success. Now, every year (usually on New Year's Day), a stage is set up in the open area behind Building 155 (dining hall/dorm) and for about six hours everyone who wants to sing or perform music (or even do stand-up comedy) gets a chance. Most have practiced for months just to get ready. The rest of the population sets up chairs (with coolers full of drinks and snacks), or they dance, or they just stand around and listen, or they do all three.
Since January is typically the warmest month, most Icestocks go off without a problem, though in some seasons the musicians' fingers get colder than in others. Temperatures are usually around 30° F.
Chili Cook-off:
This is a left-over from Navy days, but it's still a popular cultural event. Like Icestock, the chili cook-off takes place on a Sunday early in January to take advantage of the warm weather. Several temporary kitchens are set up in milvans behind Building 155 and teams of erstwhile cooks compete to concoct the best tasting chili in Antarctica. A panel of judges tests the products and votes the winner, but the real winners are the innocent bystanders who get to sample to various recipes. Most of the concoctions are pretty good, and a few aren't. Surprisingly, the bland-dieted New Zealanders often throw together the spiciest chili of the bunch, a real fry-your-mouth, burn-your-butt, pure jalapeno brew. I could never figure it out.
Scott's Hut Race:
Another long-awaited event, this traditional foot race also takes place on a Sunday in January, typically early in the month. Participants earn a specially designed T-shirt for crossing the finish line. Some people take this race pretty seriously, train for months, and race to win. Others are quite happy just to stroll the course as a way of being involved in the event.
Theatrical Play:
This McMurdo tradition was begun in the 1993-94 austral season. That year, we formed the McMurdo Players and I produced and directed the first royalty-paid play in Antarctica (to my knowledge). It was a one-act romantic comedy called "The Mice Have Been Drinking Again," starring Patti Gage, Sheri McCann, Jason Dorpinghaus, and Aaron Abarbanell. A veritable army of volunteers made the production possible. They did everything, from building the set to finding costumes to hanging the stage lights. We had six performances, and over half the entire population of McMurdo turned out to see it, as well as a large percentage of Scott Base personnel.
In 1994-95, we produced a full-length romantic comedy called "Saving Grace," and in 1995-96 another one-act entitled "Me Too, Then!" All played to full houses.
The plays were all performed in early January, for several reasons: it's the slowest period in the season (relatively speaking), it's relatively warm (the playhouse is notoriously drafty), and it's the perfect antidote to post-holiday blues. Most summer seasons now have a theatrical production, and many winter crews also produce and perform a play.
Art Show:
The McMurdo Art Show offers an opportunity for craftspeople and artisans of all types to display their creations for everyone to see. Exhibits are set up in the dining hall for an evening (typically in January), and most of the population of McMurdo and Scott Base stop by to look things over. The range of skills and breadth of talent on display is always amazing. Everything is there, from paintings to knitted sweaters, from photography to welding, from knot-tying to ceramics. Even performance art appear once in a while; one season a vocal trio sang a-capella for the crowd.
Casino and Comedy Nights:
Other cultural events occur sporadically. Casino night used to be pretty popular, though it didn't take place every season. There have also been one or two comedy nights in seasons past, but this never caught on as a tradition. Both of these events tended to be Navy affairs, so with the Navy now gone from McMurdo I don't know if they will continue.
Sunday Night Science Lecture:
This event is one of the longest-running traditions in McMurdo. Almost every Sunday night, one of the researchers will deliver a lecture and slide show on his or her work in Antarctica. Visiting artists, photographers, and writers are also encouraged to present their work to the McMurdo and Scott Base populations. These lectures offer support personnel the opportunity to see and understand the science their own efforts are contributing to, and other scientists will attend to see what their colleagues are doing. The lectures usually draw standing-room-only crowds.
Polar Plunge:
Since the practice of "packing" has been outlawed (this involved taking a new person outside on a pretense and then proceeding to "pack" his clothing full of snow), the most famous and most enduring of Antarctic rituals has become the Polar Plunge. The Plunge used to be strictly a winter affair, taking place two or three times--but especially on mid-Winter Day.
Now, however, there are summer plunges as well, in which both McMurdo and Scott Base personnel participate.
On plunge day (which is actually "night" if it's in the winter) Scott Base personnel carve a hole in the sea ice. Brave (or perhaps foolish) people then divest themselves of clothes, tie a rope around their waist, run out of a warm building into -40° F air, and jump into 28° F water. For reasons I have never been able to fathom, this is a very popular activity.
People at Palmer Station perform the same ritual, though neither the air nor the water are quite as cold as on Ross Island (cold enough, though!).
I will admit that I have joined the Vanda Swim Club, but I only did it to get the patch. This ritual initiation is another one invented by the New Zealanders, who seem to have a perverse talent for such things. It involves walking slowly into the 32° F water of Lake Vanda (a fresh, glacial meltwater lake in Wright Valley, near McMurdo), then submerging completely. You're allowed to exit as quickly as you wish. Fortunately (for me!), this can only happen in the summer when there are people at Lake Vanda. (Since the New Zealanders have closed Vanda Station, though, the Swim Club may have been discontinued.)
Parties and Cultural Events
Following is a list of most of the major parties and cultural events in McMurdo. It is not meant to be comprehensive, however.The McMurdo cultural scene is always evolving, and new theme parties and events (like the Beach Party) are constantly springing up. The venues of these events also tends to change, depending on what building is most available or most appropriate at the time.
Flag-Tying Party:
In order to find their way over the trackless ice and snow, researchers need to establish flagged "roads." These roads consist of bright orange or green flags tied onto bamboo poles and stuck into the ice at regular intervals. Even in the worst storm, people out on the ice or snow can find their way back to camp with a good flagged road.
These flags don't come tied to poles, though. And that's the reason for the first party of the new austral summer season: the flag-tying party. For the promise of free beer, soda, and food, a large percentage of the McMurdo population convenes in a large building (usually the vehicle repair garage) for an evening of tying flags to bamboo poles. It's generally a low-key party, with a DJ providing music and a little impromptu dancing between the shuffling of bamboo bundles and cardboard boxes of individually wrapped flags. Perhaps the nicest thing about the flag-tying party is that it's the first occasion where the soon-to-depart winter-overs and the newly arrived summer support people can come together and interact in a social gathering. It's marked by camaraderie, a feeling of working together toward a good cause, and a lot of laughter. It's always been my favorite party.
Halloween Party:In direct contrast to the flag-tying party is the Halloween party. October is one of the busiest, most stressful months of the summer season, and by the end of it people are ready for some release. The gymnasium is set aside and lavishly decorated by volunteers. At least one band (and sometimes it's two or three) sets up to play, usually at about 160 decibels, and a DJ fills in the blank spots during breaks.
People go all out on their costumes. I have always been amazed at the ingenuity and creativity displayed by some of the costumes at the Halloween party. It's even more remarkable because almost every costume is created from scratch, from materials available on station. This has to be what Halloween was before the days of costume shops, and before drug stores filled their aisles with rubber masks. In that sense, Halloween in McMurdo is almost purist, in a way it can no longer be in American cities. It is truly a celebration of creativity and unadulterated fun.
Thanksgiving:
This holiday is marked by quiet gatherings of friends, both before and after the big feast. The galley staff, with the help of numerous volunteers, prepares a dinner as good as any celebrated in the U.S. Because the population is so large, everyone must make a "reservation" and arrive at a particular hour. (If everyone arrived at the same time, the line would stretch around the building.) Even so, people usually have to stand in line for 30 minutes or so, but there are friends to talk to and hors d'oeuvres to munch on.
Thanksgiving is a pretty quiet holiday. I suspect that is partly because this is the first day off anyone has had (except for Sundays) since they arrived in McMurdo. Also, November is as busy a month as October, and after two solid months of a non-stop, frenetic pace (9-hour days and 6-day workweeks), people are starting to get a little worn out.
Penguin Bowl:
In years past, the Penguin Bowl football game was a big affair. Two teams would square off on Thanksgiving Day at a makeshift football field on the snow of the Ross Ice Shelf. That tradition seems to have waned in recent years, however.
Christmas and New Year:
By the end of December, the pace has slowed slightly. Many scientists have left McMurdo to be home in time for Christmas. The holiday in McMurdo is somewhat bittersweet. Most of the contractor personnel are happy about having two short work weeks in a row (Christmas and New Year's Day), since by now people are starting to get burned out. But most miss being with their families.
On Christmas Eve, there's another station-wide party, with music and lots of food, but it's nowhere near as rowdy as Halloween. The Christmas Choir performs during the party, which is usually held in the garage these days. In past years the party has been held in the carpenter's shop and, in 1990, in the unfinished Crary Laboratory.
After
the party, there's a choir recital and carol sing-along in the dining
hall. Despite the absence of family, there's something quite peaceful
about celebrating Christmas in Antarctica. Perhaps it is the complete
absence of commercials. (No one's trying to sell you anything, so the
Christmas Spirit arrives unsullied by advertisements and commercialism.
It's very liberating.) Perhaps it is because you are a million miles
away from everything else, away from the war, crime, and other problems
of the world. Or perhaps it is because you are in one of the most
beautiful places on Earth, just a few hundred of you in a frozen corner
of the world, surrounded by as much white as any Christmas could ever
want. Whatever the reasons, Christmas in McMurdo always seemed to me to
be more peaceful than anywhere else I'd been.New Year's Eve and New Year's Day bring another station-wide party, a myriad little semi-private parties, and another welcomed day off. Better yet, New Year's Day marks the beginning of the real Antarctic cultural season.
Icestock:The brainchild of the indefatigable Dane Terry, the Icestock Music Festival started during the 1989-1990 austral season and it has been a tradition ever since.
Dane saw the vast resource of talented musicians that came to work in McMurdo every year, and he decided to bring them all together in one musical extravaganza. It was a huge success. Now, every year (usually on New Year's Day), a stage is set up in the open area behind Building 155 (dining hall/dorm) and for about six hours everyone who wants to sing or perform music (or even do stand-up comedy) gets a chance. Most have practiced for months just to get ready. The rest of the population sets up chairs (with coolers full of drinks and snacks), or they dance, or they just stand around and listen, or they do all three.
Since January is typically the warmest month, most Icestocks go off without a problem, though in some seasons the musicians' fingers get colder than in others. Temperatures are usually around 30° F.
Chili Cook-off:
This is a left-over from Navy days, but it's still a popular cultural event. Like Icestock, the chili cook-off takes place on a Sunday early in January to take advantage of the warm weather. Several temporary kitchens are set up in milvans behind Building 155 and teams of erstwhile cooks compete to concoct the best tasting chili in Antarctica. A panel of judges tests the products and votes the winner, but the real winners are the innocent bystanders who get to sample to various recipes. Most of the concoctions are pretty good, and a few aren't. Surprisingly, the bland-dieted New Zealanders often throw together the spiciest chili of the bunch, a real fry-your-mouth, burn-your-butt, pure jalapeno brew. I could never figure it out.
Scott's Hut Race:
Another long-awaited event, this traditional foot race also takes place on a Sunday in January, typically early in the month. Participants earn a specially designed T-shirt for crossing the finish line. Some people take this race pretty seriously, train for months, and race to win. Others are quite happy just to stroll the course as a way of being involved in the event.
Theatrical Play:This McMurdo tradition was begun in the 1993-94 austral season. That year, we formed the McMurdo Players and I produced and directed the first royalty-paid play in Antarctica (to my knowledge). It was a one-act romantic comedy called "The Mice Have Been Drinking Again," starring Patti Gage, Sheri McCann, Jason Dorpinghaus, and Aaron Abarbanell. A veritable army of volunteers made the production possible. They did everything, from building the set to finding costumes to hanging the stage lights. We had six performances, and over half the entire population of McMurdo turned out to see it, as well as a large percentage of Scott Base personnel.
In 1994-95, we produced a full-length romantic comedy called "Saving Grace," and in 1995-96 another one-act entitled "Me Too, Then!" All played to full houses.
The plays were all performed in early January, for several reasons: it's the slowest period in the season (relatively speaking), it's relatively warm (the playhouse is notoriously drafty), and it's the perfect antidote to post-holiday blues. Most summer seasons now have a theatrical production, and many winter crews also produce and perform a play.
Art Show:
The McMurdo Art Show offers an opportunity for craftspeople and artisans of all types to display their creations for everyone to see. Exhibits are set up in the dining hall for an evening (typically in January), and most of the population of McMurdo and Scott Base stop by to look things over. The range of skills and breadth of talent on display is always amazing. Everything is there, from paintings to knitted sweaters, from photography to welding, from knot-tying to ceramics. Even performance art appear once in a while; one season a vocal trio sang a-capella for the crowd.
Casino and Comedy Nights:
Other cultural events occur sporadically. Casino night used to be pretty popular, though it didn't take place every season. There have also been one or two comedy nights in seasons past, but this never caught on as a tradition. Both of these events tended to be Navy affairs, so with the Navy now gone from McMurdo I don't know if they will continue.
Sunday Night Science Lecture:
This event is one of the longest-running traditions in McMurdo. Almost every Sunday night, one of the researchers will deliver a lecture and slide show on his or her work in Antarctica. Visiting artists, photographers, and writers are also encouraged to present their work to the McMurdo and Scott Base populations. These lectures offer support personnel the opportunity to see and understand the science their own efforts are contributing to, and other scientists will attend to see what their colleagues are doing. The lectures usually draw standing-room-only crowds.
Polar Plunge:
Since the practice of "packing" has been outlawed (this involved taking a new person outside on a pretense and then proceeding to "pack" his clothing full of snow), the most famous and most enduring of Antarctic rituals has become the Polar Plunge. The Plunge used to be strictly a winter affair, taking place two or three times--but especially on mid-Winter Day.
Now, however, there are summer plunges as well, in which both McMurdo and Scott Base personnel participate.
On plunge day (which is actually "night" if it's in the winter) Scott Base personnel carve a hole in the sea ice. Brave (or perhaps foolish) people then divest themselves of clothes, tie a rope around their waist, run out of a warm building into -40° F air, and jump into 28° F water. For reasons I have never been able to fathom, this is a very popular activity.
People at Palmer Station perform the same ritual, though neither the air nor the water are quite as cold as on Ross Island (cold enough, though!).
I will admit that I have joined the Vanda Swim Club, but I only did it to get the patch. This ritual initiation is another one invented by the New Zealanders, who seem to have a perverse talent for such things. It involves walking slowly into the 32° F water of Lake Vanda (a fresh, glacial meltwater lake in Wright Valley, near McMurdo), then submerging completely. You're allowed to exit as quickly as you wish. Fortunately (for me!), this can only happen in the summer when there are people at Lake Vanda. (Since the New Zealanders have closed Vanda Station, though, the Swim Club may have been discontinued.)
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