Artist Statement:
Climate Dissolution is a digital media installation featuring a generative visualization of climate data projected onto a large sheet of suspended glass. As an analogy to earth interconnected climate systems, the glass looms over viewers and embodies tension from its potential to break catastrophically, an irreversible tipping point. A contact microphone records the resonant frequencies of the glass, which is amplified through a programmatically controlled feedback loop that causes the glass surface to vibrate and emanate haunting visceral sounds. As viewers touch the glass, their impact is recorded and amplified through the system. The acoustic feedback loop within the glass represents various feedback mechanisms within climate systems, such as ocean warming and ocean acidification, which amplify greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrophone recordings sourced from the western edge of the Salish Sea are used to create a dynamic soundtrack that changes through the seasonal cycles represented in this installation.
Generative visuals of climate data are projected onto the glass, reflecting back into the space and onto viewers. Environmental data sourced from NASA, Ocean Networks Canada and the NARR historical climate model is used to represent annual cycles of carbon dioxide exchange between the atmosphere and ocean. These visuals are modulated by CCCMA climate model data that projects future conditions for the region until 2100. The particles representing carbon dioxide in various forms between the ocean and atmosphere approximate the complex interconnections between these climate systems. The oceans absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the air, and can simultaneously vent carbon upwelled from deep waters. However, as the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide, sea water acidifies and becomes inhospitable to many forms of life. As sea water temperatures increase, absorption of oxygen and carbon dioxide decrease, creating negative feedback loops that impact both marine life and carbon sequestration. The relationships between the atmosphere and ocean are extremely complex and are not fully understood within western science. The critical question of how much more carbon the ocean can absorb and sequester remains unanswered, and may ultimately determine the future of our climate.
Artist Bio:
Colton Hash is an emerging artist who currently resides as an uninvited guest on Lekwungen territories of Vancouver Island. Hash’s practice is inspired by the wild and anthropogenic landscapes that surround him. Extensive work as a resource worker in northern British Columbia has exposed him to systematic industrialization through forestry and petroleum development. Hash has formal education relating to ecology and climate systems, which influence his understanding of cultural relationships to forest and marine environments. Hash is informed by diverse ways of knowing held within local communities; he nurtures responsibility and accountability through these relationships. Scientific understanding, political concerns and intuitive experience are integrated in his parallel practices of artistic creation and community organizing. Hash’s politically oriented practice has received regional recognition with the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art (ProArt Alliance).
Hash received a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Visual Arts, with an Environmental Studies minor from the University of Victoria. Hash integrates his multidisciplinary foundations to create works that foster engagement with contemporary social and environmental issues. He utilizes proficiency in various mediums to create impactful installations that are publicly accessible in their content. Hash explores technological development to realize his artistic visions, inventing computer rendering processes to enhance his capacity for creation. Colton Hash was the inaugural artist in residence for Ocean Networks Canada, where he interfaced with scientists and educators to create interactive works focused on the marine ecosystems of the Salish Sea. Hash was selected as a finalist for the 2019 Emerging Digital Artist Award (EQ Bank) for his work in interactive data visualization.
www.coltonhash.com
Instagram @colton.hash
coltonhash.art@gmail.com