As darkness falls on the deep eve of Antarctic Mid-Winter, there’s a bizarre break-in at a museum store. Artefacts are not ransacked but rearranged. This is a guerilla action – a poetic provocation.

This film marks the 200th anniversary of the white continent‘s discovery – and its perilous state. A tipping point, the result of our human actions – our human estate.

By protecting Antarctica we can restore the natural balance of the whole planet

Sir David Attenborough

I S O S T A S Y – The balance between changes within the Earth’s crust and mantle, where material is displaced in response to an increase (isostatic depression) or decrease (isostatic rebound) in mass at any point on the Earth’s surface above. Such changes are frequently caused by advances or retreats of glaciers.

ISOSTASY is the response to an invisible crisis, as invisible as the whale.  Just as we never see the biggest animal on our planet, so we ignore our largest uninhabited continent.  We need to bear witness.  Only sound can stir us from our complacency: the deepest, loudest sound generated by an organism.  And like the whale’s song, the reverberations of ISOSTASY are as much felt as heard.                      

Philip Hoare 

Credits

Directed by Simon Clode and Marc Rees
Concept | Art Design  Marc Rees
Director of Photography | Colour Grade  Matt Smith
Editor | Producer  Simon Clode
Writer | Phlip Hoare 
Whale Song | Chris Watson 
Voice | Cerys Matthews
Composer | Victoria Ashfield 
Protagonist | Anthony Evans 
Dubbing mixer |  Nicholas Davies / Meteor Sounds
Sound Effects Editor | Owen Peters AMPS
Translator | Rhys Iorwerth
Graphic Design | Oliver Norcott
Creative Producer | Isabel Griffin 

I S O S T A S Y is co-created by Marc Rees and Simon Clode, funded by Arts Council Wales with support from UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. It has been developed from an original co-commission as part of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust’s cultural programme, Antarctica in Sight

Special thanks to , Swansea Museum, Swansea Council ,  Swansea Art College | UWTSD, Sud Basu,Talina Jones and Karl Morgan

Interview with directors UK Antarctic Heritage Trust