“Coal + Ice” begs visitors to see, feel, hear and smell the current effects of human-caused climate change and to imagine a possible dystopian future if action is not taken now.
Through photographs and immersive video, the climate-focused exhibit at the Asia Society Museum brings attention to the devastating realities of our carbon consumption and melting glaciers.
On view through August at 725 Park Ave., “Coal + Ice” has been traveling the world since its debut in Beijing, China in 2011. At the Asia Society, the work of more than 30 artists, curated by award-winning photographer, Susan Meiselas and exhibition designer, Jeroen de Vries, utilizes the visual arts and a series of guest-speaker panels to encourage thoughtful strides towards a better future.
“We can actually do stuff,” said Jake Barton, artist behind, “The Accelerator 2050” and founder of Local Projects – a firm that specializes in museum experiences. “Especially if you know the right thing to do based on who you are, it’s actually not as hard as you might think.”
A table stacked with postcards and pencils beckons passersby to change their future. After selecting a card from 28 categories, including transportation, corporate communications and the creative arts, participators are then asked to commit to a plan of action. Those who fall under restaurants may choose to be more cognizant of food waste in their kitchens.
Individuals can also text “Future me” to 877-763-1612, and an AI chatbot will help them find how they can do their part.
The aim is to find “not the easiest, lowest common denominator climate action, but the most impactful, individual, personalized climate action,” Barton told amNewYork Metro.
According to the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Earth’s temperature has increased by 1.1°C in just a little more than a century, a feat that would normally take hundreds if not thousands of years if not for human intervention.
“And because of that, what it does is it changes atmospheric circulation, ocean circulation, and that then changes precipitation patterns globally,” said Jennifer Cherrier, an Earth and Environmental Sciences professor at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate center. “So, some areas that might have been blessed with tons of water, all of a sudden, they’re not.”
And some areas are cursed with too much.
Since 2007, photographer and activist, Gideon Mendel, has been documenting the lives of flood survivors around the world in his series, “Drowned World.” His portraits and videos capture the resiliency of humanity when faced with chaos and devastation.
Using footage from places like India, 2014; the United Kingdom, 2014 and France, 2018, Mendel’s immersive video, “Deluge,” artfully weaves the stories of people sharing the same lived experience despite being separated by space and time. Set in a dim room with short stools, the installation pulls the viewer low to the ground and surrounds them like water. Four full screens, one on each wall, play independently of each other, telling the stories of strangers tied together by the power to survive.
“The film includes some of the wealthiest and the poorest people in the world, they all are kind of equally vulnerable to flooding,” said Mendel. “What I’m kind of trying to show is a sense of shared vulnerability.”
A glimpse at New York’s future?
A floor-to-ceiling image of a smoggy NYC skyline sits in a room bathed in a red-orange light. The sound of crackling fire and the smell of burnt wood and rubber fills the air. It gets too much to bear.
Past the threshold lies a lush, fresh-aired metropolis operating on wind-power and selling vegan hot dogs. The oasis looks like it could be somewhere along the Henry Hudson Parkway – this is “New York 2050: A Possible Future” by Superflux.
The extreme installation references last year’s orange skies when New Yorkers were warned to stay indoors and close their windows as the smoke from Canada’s wildfires besieged the city. The day was like something out of a 1950s horror movie. With 2050 only 26 years away, Superflux’s premonition may seem premature, but it serves as a reminder that we are already on fire, melting and flooding.
“Because what’s happening is we have all this water falling on a landscape that used to be pervious, right? So, the water could sink into the soil, but now we have cement,” said Cherrier, who is also associate director for Integrated Water Research at the Science and Resilience Institute. “All of a sudden, all the storm drains and everything that have been designed — have been designed for this older city.”
The city’s drainage system then becomes overwhelmed and causes flooding so extreme, train stations are submerged like some surrealist nightmare, like when Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012 — the largest Atlantic hurricane on record. Less than a decade later, New Yorkers were hit again by Hurricane Ida and found themselves in the same flooded predicament.
“You know, it’s not rocket science to put it all together,” said Mendel.“The water temperatures are getting so high, it’s quite clear that there’s a lot of climate shift going on and we don’t really know what’s going to happen and we’re just going to be surprised.” And surprised New Yorkers were.
Together, the U.S. and China consume more than half of the world’s corn, which can be found in everything from deli meat to crayons and the two are also the top emitters of carbon dioxide, making up nearly 50% of the world’s distribution. Both statistics contribute to the climate crisis.
A bill before the state Senate’s Committee on Energy and Telecommunications plans to ban the use of coal-burning businesses and facilities by January 2025. However, with exceptions made for the manufacturing of chemical products, pharmaceutical purposes, agricultural purposes and more, the gesture seems futile.
“What we need is the world to get together around the common challenge which is a life and death matter, but the world’s broken,” said Orville Schell, Arthur Ross director of the center on U.S.-China relations at Asia Society. “The U.S. and China are in an increasingly adversarial state of grace and that does not bode well for solving the problem.”
