This book project brings together the perspectives of eminent and emerging scholars from fields as varied as science communication, art history, pop cultural studies, environmental studies, sciences studying ice and artists to explore the power of (popular) arts and aesthetics to communicate ice research and the urgency of environmental action. Examining the aesthetic strategies employed in images, (popular) visual fiction and narratives to convey meaning and awareness – and how they can be made fruitful for science communication – the Book generates new perspectives on how our collective environmental responsibility can be addressed and communicated across disciplines and divers audiences. In doing so, the volume illuminates the cultural power of ice research and contributes to a better understanding of the cultural work that emerges from our ecological crisis.

Climate change — in the form of melting ice — is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century; a challenge that is difficult to measure, visualise and communicate. Communicating with, and about, ice through different media — including art, images and (popular) visual fiction — gives ice agency. As an active agent evocating the climate emergency and inspiring climate awareness, ice is more than a passive stage in science, (popular) arts and aesthetics. The visual culture and cultural ideas of ice are deeply rooted in colonial fantasies from the nineteenth century, in which ice functioned as a sublime testing ground for heroic deeds. Today, this imaginary has been questioned and transformed into moments of encounter, emotional address and feelings of connection. Using ice for aesthetic communication of climate change challenges the presumed superiority of humans above nature. It gives hope for a fundamental change in material presence (with ice as a shape-shifter) and thus leads to an emotional entanglement of humans with the world’s cryosphere.

“In a colonial regime, ice is the aestheticized backdrop to dreams of discovery and conquest — a sublime but dehumanized object of experience. But today’s art, science and popular culture show us that ice is rife with the dilemmas of ecological entanglement. From the Arctic to the Antarctic, ice mediates the affects and effects of climate change, unravelling the orientations of imperial and industrial powers. Animated by this most vibrant of elements, the authors of Communicating Ice tell the stories and stages of ice, showing how its manifold bodies communicate from beyond the schemas of the Western tradition.” — Amanda Boetzkes, University of Guelph, Canada
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“It matters what stories tell stories, what visions create visions. In order to change a story, we have to know what it is. Only then can we open ourselves to new narratives, new visions. This book manages to do both. It analyses how our imagination of ice is shaped by masculine and colonial fantasies. But it also demonstrates how a novel ‘ice science’ may emerge from removing the traditional boundaries that separate science, art and humanities. With its well-written analyses, new insights and, not least, uplifting visions of new approaches, collaborations and opportunities, this book is a joy to read.” — Kirsten Thisted, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

“This original, interdisciplinary volume examines how we engage with melting ice from a variety of perspectives, bringing into dialogue views from ecology, oceanography, geography, geopolitics, science communication, comparative literature, art history, media studies, musicology, popular entertainment studies and more. This book makes a compelling attempt to understand ice not as an object but as an agent with which we must interact differently. The contributions thus convey a fascination with ice that transcends the traditional Arctic sublime and indicates new directions for a multidisciplinary (Ant)Arctic discourse. Ultimately, the highly recommended volume points to the extreme urgency of political action to curb global warming” — Evi Zemanek, University of Freiburg, Germany
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“This collection brilliantly illustrates how storytelling and aesthetic presentation are crucial aids to understanding and communicating about objects of scientific inquiry. Engaging with a subject that is particularly topical—how ice has become a symbol of the fragility of the planetary environment—its chapters are at once fun to read and deeply serious investigations into the interplay between ice research, art and aesthetics. A timely and vital contribution to the environmental humanities, posthumanism and science communication.” — Chris Danta, School of Cybernetics, Australian National University, Australia