Paparazzi Ethnography

3/20: We nearly forgot to mention — of the Arctic Summit in Oslo’s Hotel Bristol last week sponsored by The Economist Events Group– some of wonderfully packaged reading materials, including a Delegate Book titled, Arctic Summit: What will the Arctic resemble in 2050? available online at economist conferences/arctic; the latest copy of Arctic Update from DNV to the Maritime, Oil and Gas Industries published by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Maritime and Oil & Gas Market Communications, also available online at dnv/arcticupdate; and finally, a booklet written by Dr Stephan Tschudi-Madsen, formerly Norway’s Director of National Heritage titled, The British Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo, which is available on line, but should be noted, appears in a slightly different form than the actual booklet, at UK ambassador residence/Norway .

Oh. We should note in passing of the images that adorn the covers of these fine documents, that the booklet about the British Ambassador’s Residence was sponsored by an oil company, as was the Delegate Book from The Economist, and of course, the Arctic Update is a DNV company, a strategic knowledge firm for the energy industry, publication. Well. Before looking at these three visuals in detail, let us take a moment to acknowledge the circulation of this event’s primary documents.

First, let us examine the various locations of the banner image for the The Economist’s Arctic Summit. Here are a better set of images taken from the internet:

First of all, the image representing The Economist’s Arctic Summit was visible in various forms throughout the day appearing, for example, as a wall-sized backdrop behind speakers on stage.

Turning from the speakers and toward the rest of the room, this image is visible in the form of the delegate book cover, lying face-up on participant tables. Here, attendees come into contact with the image throughout the day, not only from holding it in their hands, but also by positioning their body in direct relation to the image, as when seated at a formal dining table.

In this image, directly above, we see several ways that participants interact with the Delegate Book. On the far right, we see that flipping through the book is part of a dispersed attention to activities going on in the room, as well as the movement involved in those activities– from turning one’s head witnessing passersby, to the actual flipping of the pages, and the general occupation of having something to play with in one’s hands.

Also, notice how the image plays a role in the setting arrangement of the dining room table experience: a table with white linen, coasters for glasses and the Delegate Book table mat all within proximity to each other, and acknowledged as such by participants who position themselves in alignment to this setting. Notice, in fact, the intention in this image, with which the glass rests atop the coaster (if a glass appears on the table, it appears atop a coaster).

In this way, the banner image for this event participates in a practice of formal dining etiquette, of encircling dish ware, a practice replicated during the breaks as evidenced by the doily between cup and saucer used for coffee.

The magazine and hotel names printed on locations associated with delicacy (the encircling of dish ware), is an assertion of title recognition in a particular way, calling attention to discovery (picking up the cup to reveal a message) but also to finger pointing (placing the glass directly on the coaster). Thus, the banner image by its association to this etiquette, participates in game of peek-a-boo, hide-and-seek, vanishing acts, and other games of visual apparition.

After the Arctic Summit meeting, participants were shuttled by bus to a networking event at the British Ambassador’s residence. As with the Delegate Book, attendees had the opportunity to mingle along side each other while handling copies of the Ambassador’s residence booklet (mentioned at the top of this post). You can see in this photograph, there is a general networking of persons, and each is taking on a different relationship to the booklet.

What ties the Ambassador’s Residence booklet together with The Economist’s Banner image (and the DNV Arctic Update) is the appearance of the advertisement banner itself, whose two-dimentionality confronts the attendee as a conflation of images, both of The Economist’s banner and the Ambassador’s Residence Booklet images, as one visual instance.

Turning now to the images themselves, the Delegate Book on left depicts an uninhabited cold region, presumably somewhere in the Arctic where open water in conditions of relative darkness suggests that ocean surface ice has melted fully leaving the water a dark blue, thus decreasing its reflectivity from the sun or albedo effect.

Notice here that the book publishers have placed what appears to be a blurred vision of an off-shore oil and gas rig reflected on to the water, facing upside down, whose foundation is joined at the base of a land mass directly in the middle of the image.

The image is not a clear reflection by any means, but the shadow is recognizable as a multi-billion dollar industrial structure. What does this reflection portray? Is it a submersible installation representing subsea technology? Is it a fallen rig, barely perceptible under water, sinking into the depths of a pristine environment?

The title above is Arctic Summit, possibly an additional reference also to the actual physical summit of the rocky outcrop in the image. Perhaps the off-shore platform — as a reflection, represents the true nature of the rocky outcrop, and that the outcrop is a metaphor for the solidity with which the Arctic will soon be industrialized–  as a solid, common sensible and unassuming idea as the image of an rocky outcrop. Tomorrow’s sense will look nothing like today’s Arctic sense, but it will nonetheless be acceptable and accepted upon the same principles of sense making.

Another actuality, a version that cannot be discounted is that the rocky outcrop may be considered an Island of Inland Empire. That is correct, an Island of Inland Empire, where the rocky earth stands as an illusion that masks an assemblage of science, capital, regulation, development, entrepreneurial infrastructure built exactly into its core, much like, say, Crab Key Island in the James Bond movie Dr. No, sees the transformation of the equatorial island land mass, its core, into an internal technological wonder, much like Disney’s Magic Mountain and other sorts of diabolical resorts, distance the performance of industry from its mask of leisure. The blurred image, then, like the invisible under-belly of an ice berg is the foundational principle that keeps an Arctic Summit aloft.

But wait! Could not we also see image, its intended blurry quality, as a residue appearance, like an oil slick on the surface of water? In any event, we can state with confidence that The Economist’s image is by far, a deliberately elaborated, computer manipulated, thought provoking artefact. Its drama is elucidated strictly on the basis of its hand crafting through computer graphics in a work setting.

Okay, let us now turn to the image of nature on the right. Well let us take a look at this image for a moment, more closely.

The first thing we can say about this image is that it is not a graphic designed image. That is, it is not intended to appear as a graphic design image but as a photograph, an image by the way, that shall be viewed on its own terms. We know this because the image, in addition to appearing on the cover of the magazine Arctic Update, also appears as an independent photo image on the PDF version of the magazine available on-line. Directly above is how the image appears as a PDF on the internet, within the context of the Arctic Update magazine.

What I mean to indicate here, is that this image –unlike The Economist’s banner image– can be witnessed as a photograph separated from the logo or title of its current affiliation. It does not only represent DNV, but represents itself as a product of artistic deliberation to be understood as such outside the promotion of the Strategic Knowledge firm. The copyright is Getty Images. Perhaps DNV did not hire someone in particular to take the photo, or if they did, they did not retain the copyright.

Thus, this image resides in proximity to the adulterated intention of The Economist‘s image, but stands apart from marketing, the dining etiquette experience and games of chance, all together.

Well, what can we say about the image itself. It is taken from the perspective of the bow of a ship and portrays a human dimension of scale.

Notice that we (I am assuming someone is driving the boat in addition to the photographer) are heading directly under this ice formation. The sea appears calm and the sky is without incident. The weather is fine and randy. But the ceiling of this lofty cavernous ice bridge is shadowed and dark, indicating a lack of viewing power to test its integrity to pass under the bridge without risk. Moreover, the viewer sees on the right hand side the cracks in the wall, and the precariousness of conjoining section on the left hand side, all suggesting even when the Arctic may appear safe, there are overlying risks associated with any safe passage through its locale.

Thus, while global climate change may be destabilizing the integrity of Arctic ice structure, nevertheless, confrontation of risk is personal in the Arctic and must be dealt with head on, no matter whatever the causes (anthropogenic, local, global). Thus, causality of change is not important and delay of policy is not important, only technical response in measuring the safe passage forward registers as a mature response.

Finally, turning briefly to the nature scene that adorns the cover of the British Ambassador’s Residence booklet, we see an image representing not the future or the present, but in fact, the past. It is an image of idyllic urban gardens at a time when Oslo was becoming more aware of a romantic-period style connection with the landscape, purchasing surrounding farms in the area and cultivating new estates with acres of adjoining woodland. Of course, the image is not a direct photographic reproduction and thus represents something similar to The Economist’s Banner image.

Before leaving, let us just add a few of the pages inside these publications: