2026 ︎ Austfonna
︎Documentation of the Glacier Casting for The Archive of Disappearance︎High Arctic
Austfonna (High Arctic), 2026
Documentation of the Glacier Casting for
The Archive of Disappearance
2019 - ongoing
On
July 24, 2026, I archived Austfonna on a drifting iceberg in the
Arctic, in Vibebukta, above the 79th parallel, on ice that
had only just broken away from the ice cap.
Austfonna (engl. East Glacier) on Spitsbergen/Svalbard covers 8,100 km², making it the largest glacier in Europe by area and the third-largest ice cap in the world. Its volume is approximately 1,900 km³.
The phenomenon whereby the Arctic is currently warming about three to four times faster than the global average is known as Arctic amplification. Austfonna is also affected by this. The ice cap is now melting year-round, primarily as a result of warming seawater.
Warm Atlantic water is reaching ever further into the Arctic and towards the ice cap. Below the waterline, it affects the glacier front, which extends for approximately 180 kilometres and rises around 20 to 30 metres above the water. As a result, Austfonna is continuously losing mass even during the pitch-dark Arctic winter months, when air temperatures can fall to as low as −20 °C.
My Austfonna cast in alabaster plaster has touched a surface of ice that may hold within it centuries, perhaps even millennia. I had been preparing for this moment for a year and a half. Yet it only becam possible through the experience, knowledge, and extraordinary support of Sarah Gerats as part of my Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency.
On the iceberg, every minute counted. At any moment, it could have shifted or rotated. There was no way to maintain complete control over the process. The Arctic has taught me that every undertaking there is also subject to the forces of nature. Weather, wind, waves, and wildlife all determine what is possible, and what is not.
The cast has now arrived safely at my studio in Vienna, where I am working on an Austfonna sculpture for my »Archive of Disappearance«.
Austfonna (engl. East Glacier) on Spitsbergen/Svalbard covers 8,100 km², making it the largest glacier in Europe by area and the third-largest ice cap in the world. Its volume is approximately 1,900 km³.
The phenomenon whereby the Arctic is currently warming about three to four times faster than the global average is known as Arctic amplification. Austfonna is also affected by this. The ice cap is now melting year-round, primarily as a result of warming seawater.
Warm Atlantic water is reaching ever further into the Arctic and towards the ice cap. Below the waterline, it affects the glacier front, which extends for approximately 180 kilometres and rises around 20 to 30 metres above the water. As a result, Austfonna is continuously losing mass even during the pitch-dark Arctic winter months, when air temperatures can fall to as low as −20 °C.
My Austfonna cast in alabaster plaster has touched a surface of ice that may hold within it centuries, perhaps even millennia. I had been preparing for this moment for a year and a half. Yet it only becam possible through the experience, knowledge, and extraordinary support of Sarah Gerats as part of my Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency.
On the iceberg, every minute counted. At any moment, it could have shifted or rotated. There was no way to maintain complete control over the process. The Arctic has taught me that every undertaking there is also subject to the forces of nature. Weather, wind, waves, and wildlife all determine what is possible, and what is not.
The cast has now arrived safely at my studio in Vienna, where I am working on an Austfonna sculpture for my »Archive of Disappearance«.
Many
thanks for the documentation:
Photos 1, 2, 3, 12: © Nadine Valcin
Photos 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13: © Claudia Rorarius
Photos 6, 11: © Richard Koscher
My special thanks go to glaciologist Thorben Dunse, who shared his extensive knowledge of Austfonna with me.
I would also like to thank Ullrich Neumann of Kolibri Geo Services AS, who gave me valuable advice in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
This project was funded by the 2026 Work Grant from the Federal State of Tyrol, Austria.
Photos 1, 2, 3, 12: © Nadine Valcin
Photos 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13: © Claudia Rorarius
Photos 6, 11: © Richard Koscher
My special thanks go to glaciologist Thorben Dunse, who shared his extensive knowledge of Austfonna with me.
Many
thanks to Rhys Whitehouse for safely navigating the Zodiac, and for
the preparatory discussions surrounding the casting. My thanks also
go to the captain and crew of the SV Rembrandt
van Rijn.
I would also like to thank Ullrich Neumann of Kolibri Geo Services AS, who gave me valuable advice in Longyearbyen, Svalbard.
This project was funded by the 2026 Work Grant from the Federal State of Tyrol, Austria.