Sideby (FI), Val Camonica (IT), Grosse Warsental (AT)2023
A project by Sympoietic SocietySeries of residencies, public programmesWith Unesco Biosphärenpark Großes Walsertal, Walserherbst Festival, Bugrgruine Blumenegg, Casa Parco Dell’adamello, Avanzi, Patagonia, Kilens Hembygdsgård. ICE * In Case of Emergency is a transdisciplinary project curated and produced by the art collective Sympoietic Society (SyS) addressing the ecological collapse of melting glaciers across Europe and the loss of related folklore in local communities. Composed of three research-based art residencies and connected public programs in Sideby (FI), Val Camonica (IT), and UNESCO Biosphere Großes Walsertal (AT), the project collected stories and fostered moments of co-creation with human and more-than-human communities. The site-sensitive ethos and methodology at the core of ICE * have been developed in close collaboration with partner institutions and local actors (including but not limited to glaciologists, storytellers, activists, alpine guides, curators, artists, foragers, etc), contributing to the creation of a wide range of artistic and cross-disciplinary interventions (i.e. workshops, performances, small publications, symposia, lectures, meditations, and dinners). These interventions aim to respond to the urgency of the climate crisis, the need for renewed grieving practices in the Capitalocene, and a search for more sustainable ways of living in a multispecies world. Throughout the project, the collective has also embraced a shift in perspective towards the interconnectedness of all species by rethinking food: developing symbiosis with sourdough starters, building clay ovens, collaborating with local food producers, and employing foraging as a storytelling methodology. The three residencies culminated with the Glacier Ceremony, an art hike on the Rote Wand Mountain (AT), home to a dying glacier. The readings and performance enacted on the Rote Wand summit acted as a farewell to the disappearing glacier, a coming together, and a moment of collective reflection in a time of profound ecological uncertainty. The project was awarded the Kreativpreis Vorarlberg 2025, nominated for the AUSTRIACUS Federal Advertising Award Austria 2026, and the stories, tools, and video documentation were presented in over 20 international contexts.
Residency, public programmeChapter 01Sideby, FinlandYmmärrys ry, Kilens Hembygdsgård.Residency, public programmeChapter 02Val Camonica (IT)Avanzi, Casa Del Parco dell’AdamelloResidency, public programmeChapter 03Grosse Warsental (AT)Unesco Biosphärenpark Großes Walsertal, Walserherbst Festival
The first residency was initiated in the coastal village of Sideby, South Ostrobothnia, Finland, and its surrounding community. Our primary research focused on the area’s connection to the ongoing land uplift phenomenon, which has been ongoing since the last Ice Age. Additionally, we delved into the complex relationship between the community and the Bothnian Sea, explored culinary and foraging practices, and embraced folk tales and traditions. Collaborating with the local homestead museum, Kilens Hembygdsgård, we coordinated movement exercises, drawing and embroidery workshops, walks, and sauna rituals focusing on environmental education, grieving, and speculative imagination. The residency concluded with the first Fire Talk: a series of storytelling exercises collectively enacted around a campfire while sharing sourdough bread prepared by the collective.
Inscribed in the UNESCO Biosphere Großes Walsertal, our third residency was an immersive study of the dying glacier Rote Wand. The residency continued our research on co-creation with local communities of both humans and more-than-humans by building and baking in a clay oven, creating theatre projects and storytelling sessions with children, sharing embodied and singing exercises, moderating film screenings and panel talks of experts and introducing the third and final Fire Talk. The project concluded with the Glacier Ceremony on the Rote Wand, where a eulogy drafted by the eminent glaciologist Dr Günther Groß was read, a monumental glacier shroud was displayed, the ashes of the Fire Talks were scattered, and a glacier register was added to the summit box to gather stories and record the remaining lifespan of the glacier.
The second residency took place in Val Camonica (IT), home of the largest glacier in the Southern Alps: the Adamello. The area is also Italy’s first UNESCO site, featuring over 180,000 examples of rock art, some dating back to the Upper Paleolithic (between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age). Here, we worked with local storytellers, witches, rock-engraving experts, curators, experimental backers, and mountain guides. In line with the slow rhythms of bread-making and hiking, the concluding public program featured site-sensitive publications, sound pieces, art installations, and contemporary dance performances. Towards the end of the residency, we invited the community to the second Fire Talk, during which personal memories and ancient folklore were shared and woven together.
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