Sweep

A reading head crosses the map once a year, and every glacier sounds as it passes.

The full-length video is not published yet. This loop is a four-second excerpt.

Format: Animation
Duration: 3 min 01 s
Sound: With sound

What it shows

A reading head crosses the map from left to right once a year, and the 110 glaciers on its way light up and ring. A large red ring opens from the centre at the start of each year. The instruments are the same as in Orchestra, and fragmented glaciers throw glittering crosses.

Data

20,150 glaciers with at least 20 observed years, 110 of them chosen among the 6,000 largest. Each plays one note a year, made from its position, the change of its snow line, its snow cover and its fragmentation.

How it is made

Sound and image come from the same list of 6,433 notes. The curtain follows the horizontal axis of the turned map.

Sound

The moment of a note in the year, and where you hear it, follow the longitude of its glacier, from west to east. Pitch combines latitude and the change of the snow line, and a low gong opens each year.