Musto spoke with artist, photographer and adventurer Joseph Michael about his latest project - ‘Antarctica’
JOSEPH, WHAT WAS THE OBJECTIVE OF YOUR ANTARCTICA TRIP?
The project is about bringing the beauty, scale and awe of Antarctica to people living in urban areas who are far removed from this type of setting. We’ll be transforming a city’s magnificent buildings into living breathing icebergs by projecting visual sequences onto them with interactive soundscapes. A digital artwork that you have to experience in the real world. It’ll be like going to a huge outdoor cinema but the director will be on site and can change the sounds and images while you’re watching.
WHERE THERE ANY CHALLENGING MOMENTS?
The distance and remoteness of Antarctica adds a level complexity to everything we were trying to accomplish down there. Getting large amounts of equipment to our sailboat in South America was challenging and required substantial planning. Once you’re down in Antarctica, you can’t just call in a replacement if the equipment fails or there is a safety mishap, so it was important to take to take gear that is trusted and proven in this environment.
WHAT IS YOUR ESSENTIAL KIT FOR SUCH AN EXPEDITION?
I found the Evolution Arctic Gore-Tex Primaloft Parka to be an invaluable and versatile ally. When you’re that far south, the amplified nature of the localised elements means things like the wind, precipitation and sea swells can really take their toll.
WHICH BIT OF MUSTO KIT OUTPERFORMED YOUR EXPECTATIONS MOST?
Along with the Parka, the Evolution Survival Gore-Tex Primaloft was sensational. I was able to sit out in the elements photographing for hours and hours on end. This enabled me to sit with the camera for as long periods to capture magic moments of light and wait patiently for the ice to calve of the glaciers.
WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF YOUR TRIP?
Every day I surprised myself with the images we were able to capture. The light and the colour pallet in Antarctica is quite extraordinary. Its such an extreme process to witness – seeing firsthand just how much the environment changes, several of the icebergs we had captured one day had completely broken apart within hours of our photographs.
SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE ANTARCTICA PROJECT?
Currently we are working on the first series of city installations. The post production process will take us another 6 – 8 months to complete building of the assets and filming that needs to be done in the studio here in New Zealand. Early next year we will look to release a 4K film with some of the highlights from the trip to lead up to the first installation, so stay tuned for that. Otherwise stay in touch with my facebook page.
