The Icehouse Architect
Krista-Leigh Davis
April 20th — June 15th, 2024
The Icehouse Architect was artist Krista-Leigh Davis’ first solo exhibition with The Blue Building. We are thrilled to have hosted this new and timely body of work. The Icehouse Architect deploys speculative mythologies based in Davis’ ongoing research into new technologies addressing climate change.
The following statement from the artist accompanies the exhibition:
“ In The Icehouse Architect, the gallery becomes a speculative future where remnants of a once-frozen world serve as the foundation for a new mythology.
Video and sculptural works tell a fragmented story of both past attempts to monitor and mitigate ice loss, as well as a newly discovered method to rebuild ice structures post-melt. Central to this narrative is an individual who harnesses her body to extract heat from oceans and waterways. As her body can only hold so much at a time, she is one part of the equation. We are the complementary force — it will be up to us to determine our course of action.
In our present time, amidst urgent calls to drastically reduce carbon emissions, researchers explore technological interventions. These interventions, while aiming to mitigate ice loss, must grapple with their ecological repercussions. Described as stopgap measures, two such projects are highlighted: the Arctic Ice Project, investigating the application of reflective glass micro beads to bolster thinning ice shelves' ability to reflect heat and light back into the atmosphere; and anchored seabed curtains intended to shield ocean-terminating glaciers from warming deep ocean currents. In the future envisioned by The Icehouse Architect, these technologies become relics of past efforts, repurposed as narrative tools in a world shaped by individual and collective stewardship of the Earth. ”
