Phase Change – Teasing out creative ways for textual representation of vanishing glaciers
13–15 September 2026
Augustenstr. 40, Munich & Schneeferner, Zugspitze
Organised by Anna-Maria Walter, TUM, and Elizabeth Case, Glacial Hauntologies
About the Workshop
A 2,5-day long workshop taking an art-science approach to think through cryospheric change, observation, field notes, embodied experience, hybrid epistemologies, and experimental texts based on an excursion to the Schneeferner, the glacier closest to Munich, on top of the Zugspitze.
Organised by the anthropologist, Anna-Maria Walter, TUM, the main components ofprogram are going to be inspired by creative approaches by the Glacial Hauntologies team of Elizabeth Case, Hanna Perrin Mode, Tyler Rai, and Andrew Hoffman. The glaciologist Lindsey Nicolson, University of Innsbruck, anthropologist Nia Tungel, University of Freiburg, and TUM’s MA student Kuldeep Kumar are going to provide additional input.
Programme
Sunday, 13 September | 4:00 pm
Augustenstr. 40, Room F 1.12
Screening of Requiem in White (Freilustdoku, 2024) and joint dinner
The workshop begins with a screening of Requiem in White, followed by a joint dinner and an introduction to the workshop.
Monday, 14 September | 8:00 am–9:00 pm
Meeting point: Munich Hauptbahnhof
We meet at Munich Hauptbahnhof and take the regional train (RB 6) to Garmisch. We will return to Munich at around 9:00 pm.
On the way, we will learn from Nia Tungel about the emotional aspects of glacial loss and from Kuldeep Kumar on financial risk aspects of infrastructure in permafrost. Both have done research on and around the Zugspitze.
After taking the historic cogwheel train up the mountain, will spend some time with the remains of the glacier. We go on a short hike, collect observations and field notes. Glacial Hauntologies and Lindsey Nicholson will lead short sessions on observation & scientific data collection, e.g., on ice rubbings, blind contour, ground-penetrating radar. In discussion rounds we exchange experiences on taking field notes, sustained observation, embodiment, ways of seeing, conversing with the ice.
In the early afternoon, there is time for lunch at the tourist restaurant. Then we go on a guided tour through the Schneeferner Research Center and explore scientists’ wide range of work on environmental and atmospheric concerns.
Tuesday, 15 September | 12:00–5:00 pm
Augustenstr. 40, Room F 1.12
We bring together the observations, drawings, recordings, data from the Schneeferner, as well as academic, historical, journalistic, fictional texts involving the glacier. Glacial Hauntologies will lead writing, collage, and creative text workshops. During this half day, each participant will create an experimental text or visual scores, interweaving data and academic language with our own and other’s experiences and observations. These will be edited into a small booklet we will share, digitally or in print.
Prior to the workshop, participants will receive a small packet of academic, historical, and fictional texts concerning the Zugspitz glacier.
Registration
The number of participants is limited. Please register with Anna-Maria Walter at annamaria.walter@tum.de as soon as possible.
You can also find the workshop listed in the online system.
Public Science Lab 