Losing the Architectural Memory of Sea Ice
Greenland Expedition

COLLABORATORS
Andrew Atkinson, Artist
Jody Deming, Microbiologist
Christine Lee, Artist
Rebecca Rutstein, Artist

Created through a research expedition to Greenland in Feb-March 2026 with microbiologist Jody Deming and collaborators from the Ocean Memory Project, the Greenland Series investigates the hidden architecture of Arctic Sea ice and the microscopic life it sustains. Beneath the ice’s surface exists a shifting network of brine-filled channels inhabited by microbial communities that continually adapt to changing conditions. These organisms play a vital role in marine food webs and ocean ecosystems.

Working at the Greenland Climate Research Center Rutstein incorporated sea ice brine into her process. As pigment and salt interact on the canvas, crystalline patterns emerge that echo the organic structures of the ice itself. The resulting works translate fragile ecological systems into abstractions shaped by both scientific research and material transformation.

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The hidden architecture of sea ice – the fractal, fluid, brine-filled, interconnected channels – fluctuate through the seasons, and increasingly with climate change. Ice is not a dead space. The microbial life that inhabit these shape-shifting passageways test the limits of life through mechanisms that resemble memory. These microbes provide nutrients for marine algae in a complex symbiotic relationship. When the ice melts, this life flows out, some of it carried for thousands of miles along deep ocean currents, buried in the sea floor and laying dormant for millions of years before erupting back to life through a hydrothermal vent.

On the expedition the team explored sea ice at Kobbesfjord and Manatu coring the ice and documenting the hidden interior networks through organic dye experiments, hydrophone recordings, go pro videos and photo microscopy to capture the flow and patterns.

The Greenland paintings have been exhibited a solo exhibition at the Berman Museum of Art in 2026, while a West Coast group exhibition is being planned for 2027. A future expedition may be planned at the Utqiagvik Arctic Research Center, an environmental observatory the Arctic Circle in Northern Alaska.