PROJECT PRESSURE

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The mission of Project Pressure is to make the climate crisis visible. Established photographers are tasked with going on expeditions to different places around the world. The project started in 2008 and aims to put pressure on governments and individuals so that we will change our behaviour, so that we will stop wearing out our planet and contribute to a better future.

The photographers have been commissioned to interpret the theme of “Meltdown”. The work has been done together with climate scientists and established institutions such as the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In 2019, Project Pressure presented Voices for the Future, an art project where pictures of melting icebergs were projected on to the UN headquarters in New York, accompanied by the voices of six young climate activists.

You can measure your own carbon footprint at https://www.project-pressure.org/change/

Edward Burtynsky, Canada, born 1955. The photographs were taken by drone over the magnificent Icelandic landscape. Meltwater is flowing from the glaciers, meaning that humanity is losing one of its sources of fresh water.

Simon Norfolk, United Kingdom, born 1963. In October 2014, Simon Norfolk used fire to mark the former boundary (from 1965) of the Lewis Glacier in Mount Kenya. The gap between fire and ice shows how the glacier has shrunk, a significant decrease.

Peter Funch, Denmark, born 1974. Funch has used postcards and older photographs of mountain peaks with glaciers. There is something sentimental and nostalgic about seeing the former extent of the glaciers. They seem to have majestically crowned the mountains before the melting began.

Noémie Goudal, France, 1984 Goudal plays with the transience of photography and glaciers. She has made an installation with a photo printed on biodegradable paper that dissolves in water. The image has been placed in front of the landscape it represents and we can simultaneously see how both the glacier and the photograph are melting. Goudal wants to emphasize the instability and rapid changes even in what seems eternal and stable.

Klaus Thymann, Denmark, 1974. Thymann seeks to challenge conceptions of where glaciers exist, thus emphasising the importance of treating climate change as a global issue, rather than just centred around the poles. Mapping and exploring white spots on the map are vital elements of his practice highlighting how temperature changes and their effects on our resources are not evenly distributed around the globe.