Andrea Polli’s work has taken her to both Polar regions and the centres of huge developing cities where she works with atmospheric scientists and their data. How does her work help us to understand the way we measure, interpret and respond to the ceiling that shelters us all, namely our joint atmosphere? Join Andrea in conversation with meteorologist and poet, Erick Brenstrum.

ANDREA POLLI is a digital media artist living in New Mexico. Her work with science, technology and media has widely presented on the international stage, and has been recognised by numerous grants, residencies and awards including a NYFA Artist’s Fellowship, the Fullbright Specialist Award and the UNESCO Digital Arts Award. She has published several book chapters, audio CDs, DVDs and papers in print including MIT Press and Cambridge University Press journals. She is the artistic director for ISEA2012: Machine Wilderness in New Mexico, www.isea2012.org.

She currently works in collaboration with atmospheric scientists to develop systems for understanding storm and climate through sound (called sonification). Recent projects include: a spatialized sonification of highly detailed models of storms that devastated the New York area; a series of sonifications of climate in Central Park; and a real-time multi- channel sonification and visualization of weather in the Arctic. In 2007/2008 she spent seven weeks in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation funded project. www.90degreessouth.org

As a member of the steering committee for New York 2050, a wide–reaching project envisioning the future of the New York City region, she worked with city planners, environmental scientists, historians and other experts to look at the impact of climate on the future of human life both locally and globally.

ERICK BRENSTRUM
A severe weather forecaster with MetService, Erick Brenstrum has been writing articles on the weather for over twenty years in magazines such as New Zealand Geographic and New Zealand Flight Safety, and has also written The New Zealand Weather Book and Thalassa, a book of poetry. He has received communicator merit awards from the New Zealand Association of Scientists, a Henry Hill Award from MetService and has been awarded life membership of the New Zealand Meteorological Society. He has a regular slot on Radio New Zealand’s Nights program with Bryan Crump talking about weather around the world.