Monday, December 18, 2006

Stellar Axis


There is kind of a unique art project going on
just outside McMurdo on the road to Pegasus Runway.
An artist has received a Writers and Artists grant
from the NSF to conduct a archaeo-astonomy exhibit
of the stars above Antarctica. A similar exhibit
will also take place in the arctic region. What she's
doing is taking these large blue balls and placing
them on the ice shelf to represent where the star is
right above it. Since the sky is now bright instead
of dark and the balls are blue instead of white, I
guess it's kind of an anti-sky. It's art, so it's
supposed to be confusing, thought provoking and
should generally make you scratch your head. The
Recreation Department is taking a trip out there
Friday night. I might go if the weather is nice to
check it out in person. I've never been that close
to a star before...or a big blue ball on the ice
shelf for that matter either!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing that she was getting a grant for that. Considering that it pushes the limits of anything 'artful' and considering the boost to here career--we thought it would never come to pass.

oh well.

Anonymous said...

Now I know why those c-17's are always full. They are carting big blue stars south and then at the end of the season they just cart them back again? Are you sure they aren't just blow up balloons?