CLYMERA
Swiss artist Marcel Rickli tells a multimedia story of the fictional start-up CLYMERA Inc. that develops groundbreaking technologies to confront the global climate crisis. In its marketing brochure CLYMERA Inc. claims to be «committed to clean air and to preserving fragile environments before they disappear forever. More than just a technological fix, our work is a reclamation of a world worth living in.» At its core lies the Cryomancer, a device that promises to save the Swiss alps’ glaciers from melting. Although fulfilling its basic task – producing ice from the melt waters of a glacier through a machine that is powered with solar energy – the Cryomancer is working against a clock with its own timeline: the glaciers ice is melting away at such a fast pace, that the Cryomancer will never be able to keep up restoring it. Climate change is literally taking the ground from under its feet. Rickli reflects on this impossible task: «In a metaphorical sense, the Cryomancer bears the punishment for humanity’s failure to respond to the climate crisis, rooted in its reluctance to give up unsustainable habits of consumption.»
Geoengineering is seen by some as a possibility to tackle the climate crisis. While this fits into the logic of techno-optimism that claims to find a solution for any problem through the means of technological development, CLYMERA Inc. assembles uncanny references to critically reflect this notion: «the sharp-edged shape and reflective properties of the Cryomancer, in combination with its remote sensing capabilities (sensors and cameras), recall both the design and conceptual logic of military technology (e.g. F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft)… (Its) internal sensors and front-facing camera deliberately illustrate what T.J Demos refers to as the «human-driven alteration of Earth systems,» reinforcing a sense of control over the represented object — in this case, the glacier…»
However, the Cryomancer doesn’t fit into the confrontational, binary dynamics of contemporary discourse, as it also bears the positive potential for scientific research: «A wide range of sensors and high-resolution cameras can be deployed, generating extensive environmental datasets that support remote monitoring. The real-time data collected by the Cryomancer on the glacier could contribute to «advancing understandings of environmental change». Whether monitoring temperature, humidity, light levels, meltwater presence, or simply functioning as a webcam with audio recording, the unit arguably holds scientific potential — as long as the power supply remains stable and the hardware proves sufficiently robust.» Situated within an artistic practice that is informed by the intersection of science, technology and the environment, Marcel Rickli’s work makes use of technology while critically reflecting it – not least with a good dose of dark humour.
