22/10/2021

Deception Island An immersive poetry, film and sound exhibition | 23 - 30 Oct

Step inside an exact replica of an Antarctic hut and be transported to Deception Island, a tiny caldera in the Antarctic Ocean. Battered by the fiercest seas in the world and shaken by volcanic activity. Here the rusting remains of industrial whaling and a seabed littered with whalebones testify to mankind’s greed and brutality. But the island is also an outpost of scientific exploration, a witness to human attentiveness and fortitude. 

This brand-new poetry installation from Story Machine and Elizabeth Lewis Williams will be installed as part of Norwich Science Festival, summoning a remote frontier where climate and months of winter darkness impose a kind of perpetual lockdown.  

As the ship carrying the author’s father edges through the basalt cliffs into the calmer waters of Deception Island, the island’s many voices, human and non-human, begin to speak. Embark on an immersive poetry, sound and film expedition like nothing you have been on before. 

Deception Island launches at Norwich Science Festival on Saturday 23rd October and runs every day until Saturday 30th October. Alongside the installation is a programme of creative events exploring heritage and literature from the continent.

Find out more and book tickets

Watch the trailer

The Reclus Hut at Portal Point

UKAHT's Heritage Programme Manager, Geoff Cooper worked to design this exact replica of the Reclus Hut at Portal Point. The original hut was erected as a refuge at Cape Reclus on the Antarctic Peninsula and used by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) in the late 1950s. In 1994, it was carefully dismantled and rebuilt at the Falkland Islands Museum and contains many of its original contents, telling the fascinating story of a team of FIDS who over-wintered there in 1957.

Image credits: BAS Archives

Find out more with BAS Archives

Deception Island is presented by Story Machine in collaboration with Elizabeth Lewis Williams. It is delivered in partnership with British Antarctic Survey, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, and Norwich Science Festival. It is funded by Arts Council England. 

Become a member Support our work

By becoming a member you help us to carry out critical conservation work in Antarctica, run the museum and ‘Penguin Post Office’ at Port Lockroy, and deliver our UK-wide engagement programme of exhibitions, events and talks to inspire more people about the history of this incredible continent.

Join us as a member

Become a member Support our work

By becoming a member you help us to carry out critical conservation work in Antarctica, run the museum and ‘Penguin Post Office’ at Port Lockroy, and deliver our UK-wide engagement programme of exhibitions, events and talks to inspire more people about the history of this incredible continent.

Join us as a member