Inhabiting: Losing the Architectural Memory of Sea Ice
Greenland Expedition

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

In February 2026, Rutstein was invited to Greenland with a small art/science team from the Ocean Memory Project. Situated just below the Arctic Circle at the mouth of a group of fjords, Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is considered a key Arctic hub for the region. The team was stationed at the Greenland Climate Research Center (GCRC), an international research center focused on the impact of climate change on Arctic communities and ecosystems.

Rutstein collaborated with microbiologist Jody Deming, field expert Shelley Carpenter and artists Christine Lee and Andrew Atkinson on an ongoing project called Inhabiting: Losing the Architectural Memory of Sea Ice. This project sheds light on the complex interior networks of Arctic sea ice that sustain microbial life and are critical to the marine food web while being threatened by global warming.

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. Some of the paintings Rutstein created include sea water and brine as a medium.

The Greenland paintings will be exhibited at 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.