Insidious Rising, melted glacier
The Cascade Effect of Climate Change
Cascade effects are the inevitable -and sometimes unforeseen- chain of events that result from a negative impact of a system.
As part of the artwork series Heartbeat of the Earth, Insidious Rising explores the potential cascade effects of the planet becoming 2°c warmer.
The Artists: Hyphen-Labs
Hyphen-Labs is an international collective working at the intersection of technology, art, science, and the future.
They collaborated with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Iñupiaq poet Allison Akootchook Warden to create an artistic experiment about melting glaciers.
Insidious Rising Experiment (2021-10) by Hyphen Labs
The Making Of the Experiment
Using three.js technology, Hyphen-Labs created a 3D interactive glacier exploring three potentially catastrophic scenarios of the current climate crisis.
Group of men on a hillside, an aircraft flying low, over a wildfire in the forest. (2019-08-14) by Milos Bicanski / Climate Visuals CountdownUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
1. Accelerated Warming
Accelerated warming can cause an increase of wildfires, drying of fresh water resources, thawing of permafrost, release of greenhouse gases and the shrinking of the habitats where humans, animals and plants can survive.
Glaciers melting in Svalbard, Norway by Cotton Coulson/Keenpress/www.populationspeakout.orgMuseu do Amanhã
2. Cryosphere Thaw
The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system. Its thawing can cause the appearance of old viruses and bacteria previously trapped in permafrost, resulting in perpetual pandemics. It can also cause acidification of oceans and damages to fish's reproductive health.
Ubay's Submerged Primary School (2017) by @RTKTUnited Nations Climate Change Conference COP26
3. Rising Sea Levels
Rising sea levels can cause floods, disruptions on maritime routes, and mass displacement from coastal areas.
Insidious Rising Experiment (2021-10) by Hyphen Labs
What made you choose this topic?
"2020 was a year where we saw how human activities are destroying habitats and how an organism that we can't even see can disrupt the whole planet."
What was your process researching data and facts?
"We correlated our findings around climate activism with the melting raise of glaciers and sea level rise, and tried to showcase the association between these stories."
Teixeido and Capelada CoastReal Academia de Gastronomía
Insidious Rising is about what might happen to our planet, our existing systems and ultimately to us.
Launch the experiment, find out more about the technology and explore more digital artworks interpreting climate data.
