emerging (arctic pathogens)

2021, speaker, amplifier, water, pure data patch

Glacial ice holds viruses and bacteria that have been sequestered away from humanity and the surrounding ecosystems for millenia. As human caused climate change melts permafrost and glacial ice, pathogens are released into water systems and pose a threat to surrounding life. Many of these pathogens have not been well characterized or encountered by modern organisms. Emerging (arctic pathogens) shines a light on this aspect of climate change. A speaker frozen in a block of ice plays sonified ancestral state reconstructions of DNA sequences of bacteria that have been identified in permafrost ice cores. As the ice melts, the sounds become audible.