Kirschner, Carolyn. 2020. 'Searching for Proximity: Remote Sensing Technologies and Geopolitical Tensions in the Far North'. In: EGSO Conference on Proximity. Cornell University, United Kingdom 6 - 7 March 2020. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract or Description

Abstract:
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about a place or phenomenon without making physical contact, allowing for data collection in remote or inaccessible regions. In the context of an ongoing territorial dispute over the Arctic Ocean, where data has become the currency of sovereignty, this technology is proving particularly indispensable.

Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US are currently all vying for a slice of the Arctic seabed, aiming to substantiate their claims with an assortment of seismic, geologic and topographic data in accordance with guidelines set out by UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea). The scramble to claim portions of the 1.1 million square mile area surrounding the North Pole, currently international waters, is fuelled by the promises of global warming: access to troves of untapped resources below the seabed and control over new shipping routes through the thawing sea ice. As the region’s inaccessibility and harsh conditions find most of this work outsourced to remote sensing instruments, probes, sensors, and satellites play an increasingly influential role in the far north.

I will make the case that the resulting maps, models, and images of the Arctic, computationally generated from environmental data, rely on the innocuous visual languages of scientific imagery to conceal the fact that the region’s material record is increasingly skewed by capitalist and colonial agendas. Amidst escalating geopolitical tensions, the lack of proximity between observer and observed is weaponised to curate and politicise digital representations of the polar ecologies.

Interested in areas of distortion and low resolution, errors and contradictions, and gaps in the data, the paper considers alternative applications for remote sensing technologies which unsettle techno-scientific hegemonies and offer more inclusive sensory experiences of the Arctic Ocean.

Session:
Ethics & Relationality

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Related URLs:	Organisation
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Design
Dates:	Date Event 7 March 2020 Completed
Event Location:	Cornell University, United Kingdom
Date range:	6 - 7 March 2020
Item ID:	37438
Date Deposited:	27 Aug 2024 09:43
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2024 20:17
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/37438

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