A FEELING OF LONGING THAT FREEZES AND THAWS
2024-2025
artistic research project in collaboration with the center for biogeochemistry in the anthropocene, university of oslo, norway (PHD FELLOWS MATS IPPACH, ANFISA PISMENIUK AND EIRA CARLSEN and PROFESSOR ALEXANDER EILER) & performer/choreographer tim winter
solo exhibition, atelier nord, oslo, norway, march 6-23 2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / TOUS DROITS © ADAGP, 2025
“In her solo exhibition A feeling of longing that freezes and thaws, Taylor Alaina Liebenstein Smith presents an immersive installation exploring the poetics of permafrost. Smith is particularly interested in exploring how we engage with permafrost physically and emotionally, through our own bodily perceptions of temperature.
The exhibition combines permafrost samples projected via 35mm slide projectors and magic lanterns, a 16mm film, cooling elements, and field recordings from the sampling process. Permafrost – ground that remains frozen for two or more consecutive years – is extracted as thin, fragile cylinders of ice and soil, pushed from a long metal tube hammered into the frozen ground. Throughout the exhibition period, these projections will gradually transform as all permafrost samples thaw, and some refreeze.
Most people never come into direct physical contact with permafrost. It is held at a distance from our human bodies, somewhere between 2 and 300 meters beneath the earth’s surface, mostly north of the Arctic Circle. As it thaws and transforms from solid to liquid to gas, permafrost releases methane, CO2, mammoth carcasses, ‘zombie viruses’, chemicals, preserved human bodies, and forgotten technological artifacts. As thawed permafrost leaks upwards in the ground, it can also mix with surface substances that our bodies absorb and release, from forever chemicals to human tears. Like a forgotten memory, permafrost begins to haunt us.
A feeling of longing that freezes and thaws is the result of a collaboration with researchers from the University of Oslo’s Center for Biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene (Mats Ippach, Anfisa Pismeniuk, Eira Carlsen and Alexander Eiler) and dancer and choreographer Tim Winter. Most of the permafrost samples are estimated to be around 900 years old and were collected during a fieldwork trip in Finnmark, where Smith accompanied the researchers.” (Excerpt from press release, Atelier Nord)
The exhibition included a hand-made artist book incorporating my own texts, and selected quotes from scientists, geographers, philosophers and more. The exhibition programming included a panel discussion entitled Perceiving Permafrost with permafrost expert and professor Sebastian Westermann, as well as my collaborators Mats Ippach and Anfisa Pismeniuk from the University of Oslo. A performance by performer/choreographer Tim Winter, exploring somatic relationships to the permafrost projections, was also held in the space. The exhibition became a platform for discussions about how crucial understanding permafrost is for addressing climate change, with over 450 visitors including from the Norwegian government, local schools, soil scientists, archaeologists, artists and the general public.
Articles about the project:
https://subjekt.no/2025/03/06/dette-er-ukens-viktigste-utstillingsapninger-6/
EN: Installation views, Atelier Nord, Oslo. 35mm slide projections of permafrost samples onto two 3m x 5m screens (35mm ‘slide-cosms’ contain no photographic images, only material samples).
FR: Vues d’installation, Atelier Nord, Oslo. Projection diapositive 35mm des échantillons de permafrost sur deux écrans 3m x 5m (les ‘diapo-cosmos’ 35 mm ne contiennent aucune image ni pellicule photographique, seulement des échantillons matériels)
Credits: István Virag / Kunstdok and Taylor Smith, © ADAGP, 2025
EN: Details of permafrost and thermokarst slide projections from within freezers and refrigerators, onto freezer doors and windows. Inside the white freezer, a projector placed, holding a carousel of 80 ‘slide-cosms’ or 35mm slides containing permafrost, microorganisms cultivated from permafrost, samples from the geobiological layers above the permafrost (peat, lichens and mosses from mires, glacial and mineral sands, thermokarst pond samples…) and mixtures of forever chemicals and human tears. The freezer was held at -20 degrees Celsius and changed slides every minute.
FR: Détails des projections à diapositives 35mm au sein des congélateurs et réfrigérateurs sur les ‘écrans’ des portes et fenêtres de ces mêmes machines. Au sein du congélateur (blanc) est un projecteur à diapositives 35mm contenant un carousel de 80 ‘diapo-cosmes’, ou des échantillons de permafrost, des microorganismes cultivés depuis le permafrost, des échantillons des couches géo-biologiques au-dessus du permafrost (tourbe, lichens, mousses des tourbières, du sable des glaciers et des minéraux, des échantillons des étangs ‘thermokarst’, etc.) ainsi que des mélanges des produits chimiques éternels (PFAs) et des larmes humaines. Température du congélateur : - 20 degrés Celsius. Rotation du carousel : 1 fois par minute.
Credits: István Virag / Kunstdok and Taylor Smith © ADAGP, 2025
EN: Industrial era permafrost: 0°C and rising, 1965, 2025. 35mm slide projector in a freezer (-20 degrees Celsius) holding a carousel of 80 ‘slide-cosms’ of permafrost samples (see details on the following page) projected onto a freezer door. Freezer temperature: -20 degrees C. Carousel rotation: once per minute. Freezer dimensions: 55cm x 49cm x 81cm. Door dimensions: 3cm x 49cm x 81cm.
One 35mm slide projector is held inside a freezer. The 80 slides of the projector’s rotating carousel contain no photographic imagery, only samples of permafrost, thermokarst pond samples, forever chemicals and human tears. Every minute, the projector carousel rotates and a new slide, containing a different type of sample, is projected outwards into the space. The samples are kept cold within the refrigerated carousel, but as they are projected, the heat of the lamp makes them thaw much faster, animating the material held inside the slides.
FR: Industrial era permafrost: 0°C and rising, 1965, 2025. Projecteur à diapositives 35mm dans un congélateur, contenant un carousel de 80 ‘diapo-cosmes’, ou des échantillons de permafrost projetés sur la porte du congélateur. Température du congélateur : -20 degrees Celsius. Rotation du carousel : 1 fois par minute. Dimensions du congélateur: 55cm x 49cm x 81cm. Dimensions de la porte-écran : 3cm x 49cm x 81cm.
Un projecteur de diapositives 35 mm est placé dans un congélateur. Les 80 diapositives du carrousel rotatif du projecteur ne contiennent aucune image photographique, mais uniquement des échantillons de pergélisol, des échantillons d'étangs thermokarstiques, des produits chimiques et des larmes humaines. Toutes les minutes, le carrousel du projecteur tourne et une nouvelle diapositive, contenant un type d'échantillon différent, est projetée dans l'espace. Les échantillons sont conservés au froid dans le carrousel réfrigéré, mais lorsqu'ils sont projetés, la chaleur de la lampe les fait dégeler beaucoup plus rapidement, animant ainsi le matériel contenu dans les diapositives.
Images: István Virag / Kunstdok.
EN: Front screen view (from gallery entrance): 35mm slide projections of permafrost samples on 3m x 5m screen (35mm ‘slide-cosms’ contain no photographic images, only material samples). Images: Atelier Nord, Taylor Smith
FR: Écran 1, vue depuis l’entrée dans la galerie: projections des diapositives 35mm des échantillons de permafrost sur un écran de 3m x 5m, Atelier Nord, Oslo.
Credits: Taylor Smith © ADAGP, 2025
EN: Industrial era permafrost: -20°C, 1899, 2025. Sculpture, 55cm x 49cm x 81cm.
This sculpture is part of a larger project exploring the poetics of permafrost through analog technologies. It is composed of a magic lantern from 1899 held inside a freezer, which has been transformed into a projectional vitrine. Inside of the magic lantern is a sample of permafrost, projected outwards. Permafrost is ground that remains frozen for two or more consecutive years, but is thawing due to human-induced climate change. This sample is one of many taken by the artist and geoscientists Mats Ippach and Anfisa Pismeniuk in Finnmark during field research carried out by the University of Oslo. Despite the -20°C temperature inside the freezer, the sample’s thaw cannot entirely be stopped. Hence, the projection continues to move throughout the exhibition.
FR: Industrial era permafrost: -20°C, 1899, 2025. Sculpture, 55cm x 49cm x 81cm.
Cette sculpture fait partie d'un projet plus vaste qui explore la poétique du permafrost à travers les technologies analogiques. Elle se compose d'une lanterne magique de 1899 placée dans un congélateur, qui a été transformé en vitrine de projection. À l'intérieur de la lanterne magique se trouve un échantillon de permafrost, projeté vers l'extérieur. Le permafrost est un sol qui reste gelé pendant au moins deux années consécutives, mais qui dégèle en raison du changement climatique induit par l'homme. Cet échantillon est l'un des nombreux échantillons prélevés par l'artiste et les géoscientifiques Mats Ippach et Anfisa Pismeniuk au Finnmark, dans le cadre de recherches sur le terrain menées par l'université d'Oslo. Malgré la température de -20°C à l'intérieur du congélateur, la décongélation de l'échantillon ne peut être entièrement arrêtée. C'est pourquoi la projection s’anime tout au long de l'exposition.
Credits: Taylor Smith © ADAGP, 2025
EN: Magic lantern projections (late 19th century) of permafrost and thermokarst pond samples, Cryolab, University of Oslo, Norway, 2024, -6 degrees Celsius
FR: Projections depuis un lanterne magique (fin XIXe siècle) des échantillons de permafrost et des étangs thermokarst, Cryolab, Université d’Oslo, Norvège, 2024, -6 degrés Celsius
Credits: Taylor Smith © ADAGP, 2025
EN: Details, Atelier Nord, Oslo. 35mm slide projections of permafrost samples onto two 3m x 5m screens (35mm ‘slide-cosms’ contain no photographic images, only material samples).
FR: Détails, Atelier Nord, Oslo. Projection diapositive 35mm des échantillons de permafrost sur deux écrans 3m x 5m (les ‘diapo-cosmos’ 35 mm ne contiennent aucune image ni pellicule photographique, seulement des échantillons matériels)
Credits: Taylor Smith, © ADAGP, 2025