From the series Data Manipulation, Thaw, installation view, artist's studio, Miami, Florida, 0:05:00 min video projection, February 22nd, 2022. Photo © Alian Rives' StudioThe Cuban thaw, also known as the deshielo cubano in Spanish, marked the process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States, commencing in December 2014 and concluding 54 years of hostility between the two nations. In March 2016, Barack Obama achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. However, the improvement in diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba was brief, as the Trump administration later reversed much of the progress. The political situation in that moment coincided with the melting of the Mendenhall Glacier report. This piece uses sound from the Mendenhall Glacier as an analogy to talk about the political situation between the two countries.Mendenhall Glacier is located in Mendenhall Valley, about 12 miles from downtown Juneau in the southeast area of the U.S. state of Alaska. Alaska Science Center geophysicist Christopher McNeil used publicly available satellite imagery to find an answer to this problem: between Aug. 30, 2021, and Aug. 18, 2022, the Mendenhall Glacier’s terminus retreated more than 800 feet. [1] Sound from Mendenhall melting glacier makes this acoustic data dramatization using generative processes. [1] USDA, Is the glacier retreating? from the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture website
From the series Data Manipulation, Mendenhall Melting Glacier, generative sketch, sound determines form, artist's studio, Miami, Florida, February 22nd, 2022. Photo © Alian Rives' Studio
From the series Data Manipulation, Mendenhall Melting Glacier, generative sketch, sound determines form, artist's studio, Miami, Florida, February 22nd, 2022. Photo © Alian Rives' Studio
<
>