For most designers, like for most non-designers, Antarctica is simply that cold, icy place at what is often thought to be at the end of world.
For Paul D Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, it's an inspiration, a canvas, and the subject of this latest work The Book of Ice, published by Mark Batty Publishers.
With the book Miller offers an alternative perspective of the cold continent and draws attention to the magic, the wonder and the all-encompassing importance of ice. Rather than just a scientific enquiry, Miller uses graphic design, essays, music and photography to explore both the meaning, purpose of magic of ice and Antartica. The Book of Ice also includes interviews, architectural plans and propaganda in exploring ice as one of the most mysterious materials on the planet.
Through this multidisciplinary, multimedia remix of art and science, Miller envisions a new Antarctica and a new understanding and appreciation of the importance of ice. In his own words, what Miller has done with The Book of Ice is to “unpack some of the issues that drive my artwork and its relationship the constantly changing facets of contemporary life in our information-economy dominated, post-everything twenty-first century”.
As the world’s only uninhabited continent, Miller uses Antarctica as the departure point for contemplating man’s relationship to the natural world and how we may use creativity to better understand the complexities of this place.
The Book of Ice is a mixture of what could be described as fictional manifesto, a history and a scientific reflection of the all-encompasing wonder of ice. More than that, it's a visual and reading experience that intrigues, challenges and inspires.
