Antarctic Artists and Writers Programme (AWP) Pilot
About the Antarctic AWP
The Antarctic Artists and Writers Programme (AWP) pilot is a research initiative supported by the South African National Research Foundation under the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP). It enhances public engagement with Antarctica, the sub-Antarctic islands and the Southern Ocean through artistic and critical practice, providing a formal structure for artists and writers to access the region aboard the SA Agulhas II and to produce creative work that engages a wider audience than scientific research alone. The outputs are shared through exhibitions, events, digital platforms and publications, contributing to a broader cultural awareness of the Antarctic within South Africa and beyond.
Funded by the South African National Research Foundation and hosted at the University of Pretoria, 2024-2026.
Principal investigator: Charne Lavery
Co-investigator: Jean Brundrit
Postdoctoral fellow and exhibition curator: Sikho Siyotula-Siegemund
Collaborators: Mehita Iqani and Adrienne van Eeden-Wharton
Residencies
Short-term residencies for artists and writers aboard the South African polar research vessel, SA Agulhas II, offering wherever possible firsthand experience of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic region – including proximity to the South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE) IV base and the sub-Antarctic islands during annual takeover voyages. Access is subject to stringent permit applications, space constraints for logistics and research on the vessel, weather, and a variety of other factors. In response to constraints, land-based residencies exploring connections between polar scientific research and creative practice were added to the programme. A nationally-circulated open call received over fifty applications, which are being kept on file for future opportunities.
Mehita Iqani aboard the SA Agulhas II
Adrienne van Eeden-Wharton, from Water/Log
Exhibition
Curated by Sikho Siyotula-Siegemund, the upcoming exhibition, Antarctic Drift – Southern Africa’s Heritage of Ice, explores the profound environmental, cultural, and imaginative connections between Southern Africa and Antarctica. Through a range of media – including photography, installation, drawing, performance, and sound – the exhibition foregrounds the theme of “drift,” using archival research, storytelling and visual exploration to trace entanglements between these distant yet interlinked regions.
More information coming soon!
Sikho Siyotula-Siegemund, from On Other Poleis
Jean Brundrit, from Over the Horizon
Collaborations
FicSci 03: sea-ice
What forms of writing emerge when writers come face to face with current, proven and socially crucial scientific innovation and research? How might writers speak when they listen to scientists? FicSci playfully subverts the term ‘science fiction’ to offer an experimental process that explores the limits of imagination in relation to scientific possibility (and vice versa). Through a facilitated three-day workshop programme of listening, learning, discussing, and intensive writing, participants are offered the space to focus on producing an original text in response to the provocations of an invited scientist.
The anthology of the third annual cohort of the FicSci workshop, sea_ice, invited contemplation of scientific aspects of the properties, formation and behaviour of sea ice, especially in the Southern Ocean. The creative writings that emerged offer new directions for thinking about the relation between creative expression and Antarctic science.
FicSci is funded by the NRF South African Research Chair in Science Communication: Centre for Science Communication, Stellenbosch University.
Workshop convenors and anthology editors:
Mehita Iqani (SARChI Science Communication, Stellenbosch University)
Wamuwi Mbao (English Literary Studies, Stellenbosch University)
Invited scientist:
Tokoloho Rampai (Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town)
Invited writers:
Boitumelo Riet, Campbell Meas, David Cornwell, Efemia Chela, Emile Cronje, John Trengove, Lee Middleton, Linda Lee Mhlongo, Senna-Marie Bosman, Tshepo Molefe, Yuwinn Kraukamp
Download FicSci 03: sea_ice
Watch Threshold, a song written by Senna-Marie Bosman and music video project in collaboration with Nicola Pilkington, developed during FicSci 03 and inspired by the work of Tokoloho Rampai.
