Exhibitions
Before COAL + ICE made its U.S. premiere in San Francisco this September, it was first developed in 2011 for the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, a gallery space designed by Ai Weiwei and run by artists RongRong and inri in the Caochangdi arts district in Beijing. As the exhibition traveled within China, first to a Ming dynasty ancestral hall in rural Anhui province in 2012 and later to Shanghai in 2015, the exhibition was drastically adapted and redesigned by renowned Dutch exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries, who also is co-curator of the exhibition with Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas.
According to De Vries, "Designing this exhibition for three radically different locations—a gallery, an ancient wooden structure, and a would-be parking garage—has been a unique and fulfilling challenge. All three locations provided poignant interactions between content and space."
“It seeks to do something unprecedented: to chart the horrific grandeur of our effects on the planet, from the coal mines beneath our feet to the dwindling glaciers on our highest mountains.”
I have produced COAL + ICE since it was first presented at Three Shadows, first as part of my full time job as the Associate Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, and since 2015 as a freelance producer and project director. As part of my role, I also document the exhibition through video, as seen here.
Depending on the installation, the exhibition features between 30-45 photographers from around the world. Their work, brought together in this exhibition, visually narrates the complex chain of consequences triggered by the continued use of fossil fuels.
Soon after completing full installation in Shanghai, the team reassembled in Paris to create a small excerpt from the exhibition for the Hôtel de Pontalba, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to France, during the COP21 climate negotiations. Ambassador Jane D. Hartley stated, "I am so pleased to welcome COAL+ICE to the U.S. Ambassador's residence during COP21 summit. With this exhibition, the many photographers, filmmakers and explorers who contributed to this project tell an extraordinarily important narrative as they explore the complex relationship between human action and devastating climate change. This narrative is why over 150 world leaders have descended on Paris in hopes of securing an agreement that will help save the planet for our children and our children's children. It is a story that must be told, and the COAL+ICE exhibition perfectly illustrates why COP21 is important."
COAL + ICE built upon two previous projects and exhibitions at the Asia Society, Mined in China and Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya, the later of which I worked with the photographer and mountaineer David Breashears and the Asia Society Museum staff to produce in 2010.
SELECTED Press
"Photos Reveal Receding Himalaya Glaciers"
The New York Times Lens Blog, July 16, 2010
"Our Beaker is Starting to Boil,"
Nicholas Kristof Op-Ed, The New York Times, July 17, 2010
"Beijing Gallery Puts a Focus on Global Warming"
The New York Times, September 28, 2011
"Behind the Scenes at COAL + ICE" (video produced by Leah)
The New York Times, September 28, 2011
"Climate Equation: Coal + Ice = ?"
The New York Times Green Blog, September 29, 2011
"Exhibit: COAL + ICE"
The New Yorker, November 1, 2011
"Mining Coal and Melting Ice"
The New York Times Lens Blog, October 30, 2012