Umiaq and north wind during spring whaling by Kiliii Yuyan

Arctic: culture and climate

British Museum, London (UK), 2020

Nowhere is climate change as noticeable as it is in the North Pole region. A short animation whisks visitors to the heart of the story.

North Pole under threat

Global warming is causing the rapid melting of sea ice. The animals of the Arctic, like polar bears and narwhals, are in danger. And so are the region’s 4 million human inhabitants. The British Museum’s temporary exhibition ‘Arctic: Culture and Climate’ takes a closer look at the threat as well as the culture of the region.

A circumpolar perspective

To make visitors aware of the rapid shrinkage of the polar sea ice, we created a short animation for the exhibition’s introduction area. It shows the globe not from the familiar European angle but from the less common circumpolar perspective, with the North Pole at the centre. The animation shows the actual and predicted melting of the ice from 1971 through 2100.

 “A powerful graphic at the start reveals how much of the Arctic has already melted. But it gives that reality a new and complex twist.”

Jonathan Jones, The Guardian — 21 October 2020