To understand why, the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany organised MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate), the largest-ever scientific expedition to the Arctic. From October 2019 to October 2020, teams of leading climatologists from over 20 countries gathered in-situ data from the Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, biogeochemistry and ecosystem. With logistical support from the German research icebreaker Polarstern, the scientists conducted their studies from a temporary camp on an ice floe as both drifted across the central Arctic. The unprecedented data collected during the MOSAiC expedition will significantly advance international research on warming in the Arctic and its global effects.

Climate experts predict that within the next three decades, the polar ice shield will melt completely during the Arctic summer. Michael Gutsche’s images document the so-called “eternal” Arctic ice before it fades away forever.

This portrait series captured them in February 2020, on their mission to exchange researchers and equipment aboard the Polarstern, the German research icebreaker adrift in the Arctic ice near the North Pole during MOSAiC, the largest scientific Arctic expedition in history. Without the fulfillment of their mission, the MOSAiC expedition may have been called off.

Constantly connected, we are always on the wire, everywhere and all the time. While mobility provides freedom, it demands constant attention. Set in the vastness of the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve, the copper wire filigree of Joanna Skurska's wearable artworks juxtapose liberation and confinement.

Volcanoes, glaciers and the North Atlantic are constantly reforming the mystical otherworld of the Icelandic landscape.