Icebreaker Dreaming by Ruth Maclennan
14.11.2019
This month sees the opening of ‘Icebreaker Dreaming’ with an outdoor projection of a frozen arctic sea animating the exterior wall of Pushkin House on Bloomsbury Square on the opening night. This is a new solo exhibition by the artist Ruth Maclennan. The exhibition explores the Russian Arctic, as a place to live in, to travel through, to project onto, to control and exploit for its natural resources, in the context of the climate emergency. The footage is shot from the bridge of a Russian icebreaker and conjures up a route for arctic shipping alongside the traffic in central London, connecting the distant arctic with urban, fossil-fuelled, metropolitan life.
Inside the building, an immersive installation, including archival c-type printing and mounting produced by Metro Imaging technicians, traces journeys that Maclennan has taken and imagined in the Arctic region. It brings together newly commissioned films, drawings, photographs and found objects.
‘The icebreaker is the future speeded up, as polar ice melts and icebreakers open up sea routes and fossil fuel extraction. The ship helps bring about its own obsolescence. This exhibition uncovers heroic, tragic, comic, and poetic stories of the icebreaker. The exhibition gives voice to people who call the arctic home, and the forces and ideas, and events that resist the world view the icebreaker represents.’ Ruth Maclennan. Icebreaker Dreaming continues Maclennan’s fieldwork in the Russian arctic begun with Call of North. Through this work, she reflects on what climate change means on the ground, and how the geo-political transformations associated with climate change are being experienced and expressed.
Maclennan’s exhibition, Icebreaker Dreaming, is part of a wider movement to undo prevailing ‘mid-latitude’ clichés of the Arctic seen from afar as untouched pristine nature, with polar bears, idealised or demoralised indigenous peoples, and memories of brave explorers sent to conquer the elements and claim this terra nullius.
During the exhibition, Pushkin House will be a stage and a meeting place for exhibiting, describing and interpreting what is going on and what is at stake in the Arctic region today. A series of talks, discussions and performances at Pushkin House will expand on the themes of the exhibition and questions raised by its artworks.
21st Nov 2019 – 8th Feb 2020 | Pushkin House, London
11 AM – 5 PM on THU, FRI, SAT | FREE ADMISSION
PV: 20th Nov 6.30 – 8.30pm RSVP
News Articles you might be interested in:
OD Photo Prize 2022
OD Photo Prize 2022 After the success of last year, the OD Photo Prize returns for its second edition. This prize is an exciting open call for emerging artists working within the first ten years of their practice, founded...
Find out moreEdgar Martins exhibition MNAC, Lisbon
‘There’s a shite stunk in the Air…Dad’s oot oan Bail!’ Edgar Martins Exhibition, MNAC, Lisbon This new exhibition by Martins is a comprehensive and original take on his award winning literary and artistic project What Photography and Incarceration have...
Find out moreSpotlight: Samuel Ryde
We have been collaborating with visual artist Sam Ryde in the production of a new series of Limited Edition Giclée prints. It gave us time to find out more about his practice and in particular his use of social...
Find out moreSpotlight: Source Magazine
Source magazine was established in 1992 as part of activities originally to support a community of photographers based in Northern Ireland that had been felt unrepresented. From these beginnings the magazine has developed in its ambition and reach. I...
Find out moreSpotlight: Rick Findler
www.rickfindler.com As an independent photojournalist working in some of the most challenging situations, what first inspired you to pick up a camera to follow the path that you immersed yourself in? Whilst I was already taking pictures of landscapes...
Find out moreSpotlight: Marc Wilson ‘A Wounded Landscape’
Can you tell us a bit about ‘A Wounded Landscape’ what prompted you to undertake the project and had you always determined that it would be long term commitment to the story? I have wanted – or perhaps without...
Find out moreSpotlight: Ioanna Sakellaraki
We were first introduced to Ioanna’s practice as part of a Metro Imaging partnership with the Royal Photographic Society and have since followed her path through the RCA and onto a PhD at Kingston University. To coincide with an...
Find out moreSpotlight: Hayleigh Longman
This year has been particularly challenging for us as a company and our commitment to mentorship and supporting the creative community has had to adapt to C-19 protocols. Though face to face and peer workshops have had to go...
Find out moreSpotlight: Life Framer
For six years Life Framer has been shining the spotlight on emerging photographers. They have a truly international membership with a regular programme of competitions, culminating in annual exhibitions in several countries. They attract a quality cohort of judges...
Find out moreSpotlight: Somewhere in Between
Somewhere in between is a collective of six artists who are all MA graduates from UAL Camberwell and their work crosses several imaging disciplines including printmaking; film and photography. They are a close knit group of like-minded people who...
Find out moreSpotlight: Christiane Monarchi, Photomonitor
Founded by Christiane Monarchi, Photomonitor highlights lens-based artists at all levels of experience and practice, providing an important online perspective of their projects and vision. It is clear that the pandemic has isolated many and our ability to engage...
Find out moreSpotlight: London Independent Photography
Founded in 1987, LIP is a not-for-profit photography members group that with over three hundred members, promotes free thinking and active collaboration. This week sees the launch of its annual exhibition and series of talks and lectures and due...
Find out more