By Yunxin Xing
Contributing Writer
On September 11, the University Art Gallery held the art reception for Paul Miller’s Art Show in Convocation Hall. Paul D. Miller created a series of graphic designs inspired by his voyage to the Antarctica and the Arctic. In the artist talk that afternoon, Miller regards the Antarctic as the crucial stage that manifests the growing urgent challenges, such as glob-al warming and political issue. As a multimedia artist, he transforms data from scientific research of the Antarctic into the language of visual art and music, creatively in response to the ongoing environmental and political problems. “Ice is an archive of data from the planet’s hidden past, preserved and ready for playback with the right device,” said Miller. What blows the audience’s mind is the way Miller utilizes technology as the crucial approach to discern the whispering of Nature and translates it in a creative and fascinating way. Cooperating with scientists such as Brian Greene, a physicist from Columbia University, and Ross A. delivered by the Antarctica and the Arctic. Miller Virginia, Director of Arc-tic Studies at Dartmouth College, Miller converts the scientific data into musical notes, loops, and patterns, which al-lows him to perceive the specific rhythm of the Antarctic. Then, he creates musical pieces and graphic designs based on the data, which enables the public to gain the access to the information takes the “tip of the ice-berg” as the metaphor, by which messages unseen can be expounded by the artist.
Miller’s speech suggests the limited ability of human beings to receive information from the medium on which it embedded. Without being informed of the danger of global warming, one may fully surrender to the great beauty of the landscape appeared among the ice and snow on the south pole. With-out dutiful and inclusive research for the Antarctica, one may never detect the hidden stories beneath the image that shows up. Miller practices the role of an artist in revealing critical changes imperceivable in the world and building up a vision of a substantial future.