North Pole Project, Steel, rope lights, solar power, 132” x 79” x 168”, 2021
Tamsie Ringler – Founding Director, Curator and Artist
The winter season is an important time in many Northern cultures where light is celebrated in the midst of
the darkness and cold of the season. The traditional form of a holiday light display illustrates the relationship between our lifestyles and the systems that support us – in this case the oil and gas extraction that fuels our economy but at the same time is contributing to global warming and the loss of arctic sea ice – essentially the North Pole of legend and reality. The outline of the oil rig is based on a deepwater floating platform design.
Winter is Alive! a cooler world carnival
Winter is transformational. In regions of the planet that experience winter, the seasonal experience permeates the habits and habitats of all of its systems and inhabitants. For humans, this includes many cultural activities related to winter, it’s approach, it’s fulfillment and it’s passing.
Winter is often used as a metaphor for death. There is a stillness and cessation that comes with winter, when animals hibernate and plants store their energy underground or expend their energy as seeds for the coming of spring. Winter cultures often express turning inward through storytelling or focusing on media. In the darkest time of winter there is a sense of vitality in the quietness and the gathering of energy for new growth with the return of the light and spring – the promise and fulfillment of new life.
The spiritual and social rituals of winter are found throughout winter cultures – as expressions of hope as life becomes harder to sustain, as experiences of joy through family and social gatherings and as enlightenment during the darkness of winter.Winter is Alive! a cooler world carnival is a celebration of winter and the culture of winter, but it is also an allegory – even as we celebrate, we are aware of the hardships that life and lives are facing globally due to the climate crisis. This project was created to raise awareness about climate change and activate all of us to begin thinking in a new way but also to appreciate what we have – winter.
Sponsored by the City of Madison Arts Commission, BLINK Temporary Public Art Opportunity
Thank you to Karin Wolf, Chris Murphy, Wm. Grant Turnbull, Tim O’Neill, Aris Georgiades, Sarah FitzSimons, Gail Simpson, Keith Kaziak and Barbara Justice
Madison, WI | www.tamsie.com