Stellar Axis: Art in Antarctica

Jean de Pomereu, Managing Director of the IPF-UK and photographer, has been commissioned to photograph a unique and spectacular land-art project set to take place near the U.S. Mc Murdo station in Antarctica in December 2006.

 

The project, entitled "Stellar Axis", is the work of the internationally known, Los Angeles based artist, Lita Albuquerque, and is sponsored by the US National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Programme.

The concept is to mirror the southern sky (constellation) through the alignment of about 99 blue spheres across an area of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Albuquerque - a pioneering member of the first generation of Earth artists - executes her works in vast expanses of deserts around the globe. This work will be her largest to date, and is derived from her research in archaeoastronomy. Envisioned as phase one of a two-part project, it will culminate at the North Pole and symbolize a shaft of starlight aligned with the rotational axis of Earth. This ephemeral artwork will be a major extension of her commitment to develop a visual language that addresses the realities of time and space.