“I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul, and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy. The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always had the effect of solemnizing my mind, and causing me to forget the passing cares of life” 1

2021 – the world is on hold and every body is being scrutinized. We developed a new sense of intimacy with the screen while exploring new frontiers of loneliness from the comfort of our living rooms. Through this portal we travel in time, consume places near and far. Meeting after meeting, fed by untrustworthy algorithms we are constantly absorbing information, always connected, yet we can’t look away from a screen that is also a window, a community space, a scanner, a mirror and a labyrinth. Somewhere along the way, we got lost in the promises of free-of responsibilities access. We are diverted by the seductive appearance of a reality that is virtual but has a physical presence in the form of cables, webcams, data storage, zoom fatigue, heat waves and ice melting 2. When walking in the field of the digital we leave a mark in a binary language we can’t possibly interpret, a ghostly presence of our existence in one time and space.

1. Shelley, “Frankenstein”, 116

2. In Karst 2, Snow Yunxue Fu portrays an Ice Maze, to preserve the memory and give access to this disappearing environment, inspired by a glacier sites in west Canada she visited in the summer of 2018.