DR SUSAN SCHUPPLI is an artist-researcher based in the UK whose work has explored the ways in which non-human witnesses, such as materials and objects, enter into public discourse and testify to historical events, especially those involving political violence, ethnic conflict, and war crimes. This research resulted in the monograph Material Witness: Media, Forensics, Evidence published by MIT Press in 2020 as well as various artworks notably “Can the Sun Lie”, “Evidence on Trial” and “Nature Represents Itself”. Consequently Schuppli’s work has assumed many different modes of communication from legal analysis and public advocacy to theoretical reflection and creative exploration. Her current research and artistic production expands these legal investigations to examine how environmental systems and the transformations brought about by global warming are also generating new forms of evidence; creating, in effect, a planetary archive of material witnesses. Much of this work has been developed through the multi-year researcg project LEARNING FROM ICE. A paralle line of inquiry COLD CASES explores temperature as a material register of harm and state violence, specifically the strategic use of “cold” as a weapon, and reflects upon the ways in which its differential experiences are entangled with legal questions, human rights violations but also claims for social and environmental justice. Schuppli’s artistic work has been exhibited throughout Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US. She is Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths University of London and is an affiliate artist-researcher and Board Chair of Forensic Architecture.
DR MOHD. FAROOQ AZAM is an Earth scientist working on glaciology, hydrology, and climate change in the Himalayas. He brings more than a decade of field-experience and remote sensing knowledge to this project. Azam’s research focuses on measuring and monitoring the impacts of global warming on the Himalayan glaciers. He has worked extensively on the Chhota Shigri Glacier in the Western Himalayas and published the landmark study demonstrating that this glacier is the “benchmark” for understanding ice loss across the entire range. Furthermore, he completed his PhD in France while working with local communities on Himalayan glaciers. Azam’s current research focuses on Drang-Drung Glacier—a site not yet investigated. Comparing the most studied glacier in the Himalayas with one that has never been examined provides a useful analytic framework. As Co-Applicant, Azam took a lead in developing our scientific experiments, organising our expedition, as well as engaging actively in capacity building with his students and local knowledge sharing. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore.
FAIZA AHMAD KHAN is is an award-winning filmmaker and researcher based in India who has been working on the “Learning from Ice” project with Schuppli, which includes futures episodes on Gondwana (the ancient tectonics that formed the Indian subcontinent) as well as activities in Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic. She is a member of the Border Ecologies network based in the UK. For “Listening to Ice” Khan assumed the role of Community Project Coordinator focusing, in particular, on community-based initiatives such as the “Deep Listening to Glaciers” workshop.
GURMEET SAPAL is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer whose work focuses on creating documentaries and current affair programs. In 2021 Sapal shot a film on “The Widows of Everest” at Base Camp for Al Jazeera.
JIGMET SINGGE and KUNGZANG DEACHEN are Project Coordinators for the grassroots organisation Local Futures based in Leh, Ladakh dedicated to renewing ecological and social wellbeing by strengthening communities and local economies worldwide. Since 1978, Local Futures has been providing the people of Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas with information about the impact of conventional development in other parts of the world, while exploring more sustainable patterns of development in Ladakh itself, based on the use of local knowledge and resources. Their current work in Ladakh is based on over 40 years working in the region.