Encounters at the End of the World Painting

Werner Herzog: For this and many other reasons, our presence on this planet does not seem to be sustainable. Our technical civilization makes us particularly vulnerable. There is talk all over the scientific community about climate change. Many of them agree, the end of human life on this earth is assured. Human life is part of an endless chain of catastrophies, the demise of the dinosaurs being just one of these events. We seem to be next. Peter Gorham: The neutrino is the most ridiculous particle you could imagine. A billion neutrinos went through my nose as we were talking. A trillion, a trillion of them went through my nose just now. And they did nothing to me. They passed through all of the matter around us continuously in a huge, huge blast of particles that does nothing at all. They almost exist in a separate universe, but we know as physicists we can measure them, we can make precise predictions and measurements. They exist, but we can't get our hands on them. Samuel S. Bowser: The creatures that are down there are like science fiction creatures. They range in the way that they would gobble you up from slime-type blobs, but creepier than classic science fiction blobs - these would have long tendrils that would ensnare you, and as you try to get away from them you just become more and more ensnared by your own actions. And then after you would be frustrated and exhausted, then this creature would start to move in and take you apart. So that's one example of one of the creatures, then there are other types of worm-type things with horrible mandibles and jaws and just bits to rend your flesh. Doug MacAyeal: Might as well be on a piece of the South Pole but yet I'm actually adrift in the ocean, a vagabond floating in the ocean, and below my feet I can feel the rumble of the iceberg, I can feel the change, the cry of the iceberg, as it's screeching and as it's bouncing off the seabed, as it's steering the ocean currents, as it's beginning to move north. I can feel that sound coming up through the bottoms in the my feet and telling me that this iceberg is coming north. That's my dream. Werner Herzog: The rules for the humans are do not disturb or hold up the penguin. Stand still and let him go on his way. And here, he's heading off into the interior of the vast continent. With 5,000 kilometers ahead of him, he's heading towards certain death. William Jirsa: So just imagine 90% of languages will be extinct probably in my lifetime. It's a catastrophic impact to an ecosystem to talk about that kind of extinction. Culturally we're talking about the same thing, I mean, you know, what if you lost all of Russian literature, or something like that. If you took all of the Slavic languages and they just went away. No more Tolstoy. Werner Herzog: It occurred to me that in the time that we spent with him in the greenhouse possibly three or four languages have died. In our efforts to preserve endangered species we seem to overlook something equally important. To me, it's a sign of a deeply disturbed civilization, where tree-huggers and whale-huggers in their weirdness are acceptable, while no one embraces the last speakers of a language. Werner Herzog: In the stupid trend of academia, it would be better to let the language die than to preserve it. Werner Herzog: The National Science Foundation had invited me to Antarctica even though I left no doubt that I would not come up with another film about penguins. [last lines] Stefan Pashov: There is a beautiful saying by an American philosopher, Alan Watts. He used to say that through our eyes the universe is perceiving itself, and through our ears the universe is listening to its cosmic harmonies. And we are the witness to which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence. from ‘Encounters at the End of the World’ (2007) Written and Directed by the Man himself Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man). Encounters at the End of the World is a 2007 American documentary film by Werner Herzog. The film studies people and places in Antarctica. It was released in North America on June 11, 2008, and distributed by THINKFilm. Synopsis: Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. Herzog's voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins" but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape. They begin at McMurdo Station and interview some maintenance and support workers as well as iceberg geologist Douglas MacAyeal. They travel next to a nearby seal camp supervised by zoologist Olav Oftedal. Next they join the film's composer/producer, research diver Henry Kaiser, at his diving camp and interview cell biologist Samuel Bowser and zoologist Jan Pawlowski. Kaiser and Bowser stage a rooftop guitar concert. Herzog and Zeitlinger return to McMurdo for some more interviews and visit the preserved original base of Ernest Shackleton. After some brief footage at the South Pole, Herzog interviews penguin scientist David Ainley. This footage includes a shot of a penguin marching in the wrong direction, walking to a certain death in the barren interior of the continent. Herzog and Zeitlinger next visit Mount Erebus and interview volcanologists. A unique sequence follows which was shot in tunnels deep below South Pole station carved from snow and ice. Various trinkets and mementos, including a can of Russian caviar and a whole frozen sturgeon, are placed in carved-out shelves in the ice walls and preserved by the extremely cold and dry air. On the slope of the volcano, Herzog and Zeitlinger explore ice caves formed by fumaroles. The film next visits the launch of a giant helium balloon used in a neutrino detection project (ANITA) and features an interview with physicist Peter Gorham. It concludes with some philosophical words from a maintenance worker and more footage from the fumarole ice caves and Kaiser's dives. Production: Herzog was drawn to Antarctica after viewing underwater footage filmed by Henry Kaiser. Kaiser was working on music for Herzog's Grizzly Man and was showing the footage to a friend when Herzog noticed it. Kaiser had been to Antarctica on scientific diving expeditions, as well as with the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program for his "Slide Guitar Around the World" project. Within two years, Herzog had released The Wild Blue Yonder, which made prominent use of Kaiser's footage. The film was shot in Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. The entire film crew consisted of Herzog, who recorded all production sound, and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. The two went to Antarctica without any opportunity to plan filming locations or interview subjects, and had only seven weeks to conceive and shoot their footage. Herzog often met his interview subjects only minutes before he began shooting them. Filming in Antarctica is usually overseen by the National Science Foundation's media office, which approves and supervises all film productions. Because of Herzog's grant from the Artists and Writers Program, he was allowed to film with no minders or oversight from the NSF. This allowed them to film the "seal-bagging" footage, which is not typically deemed suitable for public release. The sound recordings of the seals were produced by Douglas Quin, a sound expert and professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and another recipient of the Antarctic Artists and Writers grant. The film is dedicated to American critic Roger Ebert. Source: Wikipedia

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:48 W x 60 H x 1.5 D in

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