Ragnarök: Anthropocene (review)

Now I shall tell you of the days to come. I shall tell you how it will end, and then how it will begin once more.

—Neil Gaiman (2017:269) ¹

The installation Ragnarök: Anthropocene, exhibited at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is ideally suited for an audience of folklorists or anyone interested in contemporary renditions of a powerful and enduring myth of destruction and re-creation. It is an exhibition for our time, inspired by the ancient yet familiar themes of cataclysmic endings caused by fires and floods followed by renewal—two motifs (destruction and rebirth) eternally generating one from the other through intertwining and recycling. The story of Ragnarök in Norse mythology narrates the world's origins and culminates with the battle of the gods and giants, which results in the destruction of the earth. However, within the trajectory of this saga is the suggestion of regeneration after chaos: "I see the earth rise a second time from out of the sea, green once more" (from the Poetic Edda: Völuspsá, translated by Jackson Crawford in printed material accompanying the exhibit).

The term Anthropocenewas coined by Paul Crutzen, atmospheric chemist and Nobel Laureate, to refer to an era dominated by human behavior and habitation, developments that undeniably impact the environment. In the local context of this exhibit, linking Anthropocene with Ragnarök alludes to wildfires as well as subsequent flooding and mudslides that devastated areas of the Pikes Peak region in recent years, thus providing a backdrop for this exhibit that is all too familiar to the Colorado Springs community. Yet the poetic elements, combined with the sheer beauty of this installation, transcend any negative expectations conjured up by themes of "fire-and-ashes" or the finality of death and destruction.

The gallery space for Ragnarök: Anthropoceneis a relatively narrow rectangular hallway oriented on a north-south axis and bordered by high walls extending 60 feet in length. The space suits the concept of the exhibit. On one hand, it evokes a vision of Valhalla, the Norse god Odin's feast hall for hosting valiant warriors who have died in battle. On the other hand, with its vertical emphasis and high ceiling, it feels like a cathedral. The gallery walls are carefully overlaid with linear patterns of painted runes created from stark combinations of simple vertical and diagonal strokes in semi-gloss paint on a matte surface. These tonal inscriptions emerge and disappear as the viewer walks along, discovering various runic inscriptions illuminated from different light sources—an impression that instills a sense of magic and mystery, of materiality and evanescence. The lines of runes comprise five stanzas of the story of Ragnarök. Within the fields of Viking Age runes, magic symbols or charms, known as the Galdrastafir and dating from a later medieval period, are rendered in gold interference paint. These create a similar visual effect as the reappearing-and-disappearing runes by relying on light refraction for color and visibility. The protecting charms "flare up as gold." ²They are more ornate composites of straight lines, spheres, and multiple horizontal elements than the runes. Some of these Galdrastafir are symbols used in sorcery or they refer to prayers. Others invoke charms to protect against possessed animals, promote safety and victory in battle, or attract a lover.

Suspended from the ceiling on invisible filaments, a chain of nine three-dimensional sculptures of the gods (representing the forces of creation) laterally bisects the gallery space right through the center, defiantly curvilinear within a place dominated by angles and lines. From a certain viewpoint, the chain of figures resembles weightless astronauts spinning around in an anti-gravitational field, especially with their shadows projected on the ceiling overhead, suggestive of other realms of existence. The arrangement is configured according to sacred geometry, pairing three-dimensional deities with their corresponding two-dimensional Galdrastafir painted on the walls. The magic symbols are laid out in a spiral going up and down within the fields...