British artist Liam Gillick has opened a weather station on Fogo Island, off the eastern coast of Newfoundland, as part of the World Weather Network, a global constellation of weather stations in oceans, deserts, mountains, farmland, rainforests, lighthouses and cities.
Gillick’s A Variability Quantifier, also known as the Fogo Island red weather station, can be seen via Fogo Island Arts, which operates an artist residency program on the island. The artwork is intended to function as an operational weather station that gathers local weather data, as well as being a place for education and discussion.
"Art has always been used to understand and elevate our environment," says Gillick, who is based in New York. "This project brings together so many new perspectives that will accelerate critical thinking about our current crisis.
"I am interested in the science of the climate crisis. My project is to collect data to feed into the global system. I always want to accentuate the clear maths and science that have long proved the catastrophic changes that we all face."
The work is being acquired by the National Gallery of Canada as the first project in its national outreach initiative to maintain artworks sited at locations across the country.
The weather is changing on Fogo Island, as elsewhere, according to local residents. "My father used to say in the 70s that the winters were changing," says Norm Foley. "He used to say winter would come and stay all winter, now, one day it’s -20 and the next day it’s +10.”
The World Weather Network, which includes artists and writers from 28 organizations around the world, offers different ways to understand the weather. Reports from writers and artists are shared on the World Weather Network platform from different locations, including the Himalayas, the Arctic Circle, a rainforest in Guyana and farmland in Nigeria. Cloud data is being observed in China, lichens in France, and lighthouses off Peru, for instance.
Nicolaus Schafhausen, strategic director at Fogo Island Arts, says Fogo Island has "a front-row seat on the Labrador Current" for observing the annual passage of icebergs. "With approximately 40 per cent of the world’s population living in coastal communities, monitoring the changing weather in these communities is becoming increasingly critical."
Source: National Gallery of Canada