The Melt and the Glow
a solo exhibition of works by Michael Eckblad
curated by Emireth Herrera Valdés

GHOSTMACHINE Gallery
23 Monroe St, New York, NY

December 12th - January 5th
Opening December 12th, 6-9pm

ghostmachine.nyc

New York -GHOSTMACHINE Gallery presents The Melt and the Glow, Michael Eckblad’s second solo show, which explores environmental awareness and human geography through a participatory performance inspired by his extensive research on ice and light. Eckblad’s lens captures the ephemeral beauty of light interacting with ice, revealing the delicate balance between nature’s grandeur and fragility.

What began in 2013 as a visual study with sunlight, mirrors, and Arctic icebergs has evolved into a more reflective project that integrates social engagement. Returning to the Arctic Circle in the summer of 2024, Eckblad encountered a landscape reshaped by time and climate change, where the melting glaciers heighten the urgency of his artistic practice. Actions that might have held no connection to scarcity in a pre-industrial era are now unavoidably intertwined with it. This exhibition invites viewers to engage with the shifting realities of our environment, prompting a collective reflection on the interplay between human impact and natural transformation.

At the core of this work is the Midnight Sun–a phenomenon to the polar regions where the Earth’s axial tilt creates continuous daylight in summer. In Svalbard, Norway, the setting for Eckblad’s project, the Sun remains above the horizon for months, offering a unique opportunity to manipulate and extend light.

In Shore Ice Intervention with Sunlight (Triptych) (2013), Eckblad utilizes a triptych video format to further explore time’s elasticity. The work combines images of light reflections subtly intensified as ice gradually melts. This narrative structure emphasizes the cyclical nature of time, suggesting that fleeting moments can recur and endure.In Iceberg Interventions with Sunlight (Triptych) (2013, 2024), Eckblad uses mirrors to reflect sunlight onto ice, creating the illusion of ethereal, shimmering beings dancing across the frozen surface—a poetic metaphor for the fragile yet dynamic relationship between humans and the environment. The ice, both recipient and diffuser of light, transforms into a living, luminous canvas. This communal act, involving performers holding mirrors, is meticulously orchestrated by the artist yet subject to the unpredictability of nature, with success depending on weather, timing, and collective effort.

The Melt and the Glow (2013, 2024), a broad selection of studies with Arctic ice and sunlight, situates the entire body of work in a visual exposition of the sky, earth, and water. Moving through disappearing landscapes and chasing luminous spirits, these moments are nearly diamonds, rare like gold, and fully neither, expanding the definition of preciousness within natural elements.

Participatory performance amplifies the work’s difficulty and impact, transforming the merging of light and movement into a metaphor for social change. Michael Eckblad’s exhibition The Melt and the Glow discloses the relationship between human actions and the natural world, highlighting the Earth’s fragile resilience and calling for urgent collective environmental protection.

BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Eckblad (born in Madison, Wisconsin) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. His work spans the performed to the visually formal, often incorporating light and time. Eckblad has exhibited nationally and internationally since graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. He has been interviewed on NPR, is the recipient of the George R. Bunker Award, the Hilldale Fellowship, and received an MFA in Sculpture from Yale University in 2017.

Emireth Herrera Valdés (born in Saltillo, Mexico) is an independent curator and writer based in New York. Herrera has curated exhibitions such as Invisible Hands at 601Artspace, Jamie Martinez: The Shadow of Colonialism at GHOSTMACHINE, S.T.E.P. at the Queens Museum, Whispers at Spring/Break 2023, Tongue Tide, and 3459' at Flux Factory in New York. In collaboration with the Border Gallery, she co-curated the exhibition Invisible Bodies at Penn State University. She is a Curator and Public Affairs Associate in the Arts in Medicine department at New York City Health and Hospitals. Herrera holds an M.A. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and a B.A. in Architecture from the Autonomous University of Coahuila.

CREDITS

The artist sincerely thanks the multitude of helpers and performers who have made this work possible:

Aaron O’Connor, Producer
Sarah Gerats
Sergei Chernikov
Brittany De Nigris
Amanda Thackray
Karl Erickson
Alia Malley
Kate Sheridan
Chia-ling Lee
Tom McCormack
Mia Feuer
Blane de St. Croix
Taylor Swan
Cori Marquis
Leila Amineddoleh
Emireth Herrera Valdés

Jason Bahling, Jonathan Wohl, and Andrew Dayton of The Notion Collective

The captains and crews of the ships Antigua (2013) and Ortelius (2024)

All companions and fellow residents with The Arctic Circle residency in June 2013 and August 2024, especially including:

L.J. (Laura) Moore
Stacy Carlson
Heidi Kumao
Emma Stibbon
Rowena Easton
Lynn Coady
Cal Harben
Isadora Frost
Stevie Ronnie
Ming Yi
Natalie Arnoldi
Paribesh Pradhan
Julie Pitman
Risa Horowitz
Philip Kanwischer
Pete Froslie
Anastasia Loginova
Alexander Lumans
Steve Hilton
Elizabeth Robinson
Isabel Kaplan
Zelda Zinn
Leela Schauble
Jeanette Solbakken
Synne Borgen
Dirk Hobman
Saskia
Siri Kaur
Benjamin Koppel
Eva la Cour
Karl Mattson
Ashley Jordan Gordon
Tyler Morgan
M Acuff