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The Polar Ice Museum :: From Greenland to South Baltimore

Where Complex Data Becomes Immersive Reality

The Polar Ice Museum :: From Greenland to South Baltimore

  • Opening Reception Thursday, April 30, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
  • Imaging Research Center, ITE 108 (first floor) UMBC
  • Additional hours: Friday, May 1, 10–4pm, and Saturday, May 2, 11 to 4pm

An event poster for "The Polar Ice Museum," featuring a large, abstract background image of blue and white cellular or ice-like structures. High-contrast magenta text displays the title, "The Polar Ice Museum," with the subtitle "from Greenland to South Baltimore" in a smaller blue font. The poster includes two circular inset images: one showing a building in South Baltimore and another showing a blue ice glacier. A magenta dashed line connects the two. Text at the bottom provides details for an opening reception on Thursday, April 30, from 4-6 PM, noting a collaboration between IRC and iHARP, featuring "Climate Matters." Logotypes for IRC, arts+, iHARP, and NSF appear in the bottom right corner.

An Imaging Research Center (IRC) collaboration with iHARP presents an arc of monitors displaying an ice cave within a game-like environment. As the viewer's own CO2 (breath) enters the space, a series of events animates the monitors. These global events, including the emergence of lakes in Greenland, temperature rising, and global CO2 levels emitting particles, lakes, and letters, include maps containing windheads, icebergs, ice skaters, and more. The unfolding glacial movements turn the earth’s data into something visceral and immediate.   

A sculpture shows the impact of a South Baltimore shop whose flooding is twice that of the rest of the Chesapeake Bay due to events in the polar regions.

Viewers will also see the IMDA MFA Graduate student collaboration “Climate Matters”, and a VR game to test your commitment to change things!

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A preview of the project, please visit the Polar Ice Museum Site.

We hope you’ll take a moment to see how research can be made accessible and engaging for everyone, not just experts.

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Posted: April 27, 2026, 9:40 AM

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An artistic collage for "The Polar Ice Museum," featuring a large image of floating letters over deep blue glacial ice, a logo with purple text, and a person viewing a wall of digital screens displaying icy landscapes.