Ernest the iceberg comes to town

Kiwi adventurer and artist Joseph Michael brought Antarctica to life by projecting an iceberg onto the walls of the Auckland War Memorial Museum this weekend.

Antarctica – While you were Sleeping was the largest project of its kind in the southern hemisphere and a first for New Zealand.

 Michael said that in the installation he tried to encapsulate the feeling of the vastness of Antarctica.   The actual Antarctic iceberg Ernest was  two and a half times the size of the museum.

“I love how small I feel when I’m out in the wilderness,” Michael said. This was the feeling he wanted to encapsulate in the installation.

Antarctica is a fully immersive visual and audio experience.

As an audience member you hear the ice creek and groan as sections of ice calve off and drop into the ocean.

“I love capturing huge vast landscapes,” Michael said.

Antarctica is twice the size of Australia, and New Zealand is 0.02 the size of the continent.

“Antarctica is an environment where humans feel totally out of place and out of context,” Michael said.

He said initially the film team gave the icebergs names to identify them. After listening to audio recordings and watching motion pictures, they could see the personalities of each iceberg.

“I was excited to show what Ernest looks like.”

“Australis our 75-metre motor sailer and was completely dwarfed by Ernest.”

Michael collaborated with composer Rhian Sheehan to create the multi-sensory installation.

“It’s nice to experience places on the planet where humans are not the dominant species.”

Michael said the team had to be careful around the icebergs.

“The general rule is twice the height of the iceberg away from it. It depends how much risk you want to take to get the shot. Ernest was a new iceberg and we were cautious not to get close to him.

“The biggest risk of all in the expedition was being so remote.

“If there was a serious injury we were a long way from help, so the expedition took a lot more preparation and more safety back up.”

Michael’s favourite memory was a chance to have an adventure with friends.

“I have two sides of life. I love adventures and getting out. But I love just as much sitting in front of a computer creating imagery.”

The most challenging aspect as a photographer, was being part of a group.

“I couldn’t just go off on myself. I had to always think of my crew.”

Michael has been exhibited globally, including dark cloud / white light and the Luminosity series. He’s also worked with revolutionary motion control techniques on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.

The show ran on a 45-minute loop from 8.30pm to 11.00pm from Friday March 24 to Sunday March 26.

Antarctica was part of the last weekend of Auckland Arts Festival.