- The Ice Next Time:
Textiles and Artifacts of Dark Age North America (2026-2280)
Presented at Site:Lab in the Public Museum in Grand Rapids MI / ArtPrize 2012
Exhibition dates September 19 - October 7, 2012
The Ice Next Time 2026-2280
As it is understood now, the electromagnetic phase disruption emanated from our own Sun, projecting high frequency particles never previously recorded. The power disruptions caused by the Sun started as far back as 2024, the first signs manifesting as the sequential erasure of all magnetic tape archives and then gradually intensified to frequencies strong enough to stop electrically based motors and fragmented digital systems to the point of complete non-operability. Policy makers in world cultures and nations dependent upon conventional electrical power were not fast enough to manage a deceleration movement in favor of previously abandoned methodologies of power generation. Instantaneous communication, air travel, pharmaceuticals, economic productivity, and entertainment generated by electricity disappeared in a matter of a few years.
The disruption these events caused was a catastrophe. The global economy collapsed. Billions died, starved without adequate access to food and suffered disease through unclean drinking water. Waste management systems stopped working, so without proper municipal control suburban communities were completely abandoned. With electronic or electrical ignition automobiles inoperable, the quick shipment of goods and convenient long distance travel ceased. Large cities continued to possess a thin population of those willing to remain and create resources from available materials.
During the nearly two centuries of the quiet earth, lost history became myth, and without recourse, a new respect and connection with the environment returned. Large numbers of people went back to the land, acquiring farmland previously owned by corporations now incapable of organizing at previous scales. Most industrial technology and productivity was forced to emulate previous modes of manufacture utilizing steam, and physical mechanisms controlled by wind, water, and cattle.
As the waves of EM disruption slowly receded so did a small group of scientists discover that magnetic and charged surfaces were maintaining stability and could be relied upon for power. The discovery was kept secret for decades because of the political significance to those who might find this knowledge a threat. Some within scientific communities had already started to covertly restart computers for communications and development among themselves and their distant compounds with the intent of bringing old nuclear generators online again. The conflict between the scientific community and those metering exterior resources were made no less contentious by the inclusion of various regional warlords attempting to cut their resources from both.
There are many different groups to highlight during this time-period but it would be unfortunate to not mention the character of the fluid community based culture that developed after the elimination of mass media entertainment. Performance and memory of previously appreciated culture became the new form of social square dance, where opportunities for celebration within communities would center upon traveling story tellers arriving to tell news of other places, recite tales, and describe literature forgotten or destroyed. The storytellers would use backdrops made to present their specialization, be it a book or other mediated story.
The Ice Next Time utilizes the Public Museum museum to look back at a culturally significant and idealized version of the past for reinterpretation, much as people of the past may have looked upon the Wild West era. It is a reminder of the work that needs to be done to bring our society back together in our own time, the year 2439. 
Man Outside the Field / Boogey Man / Death (Burlap) Man on the Road /
Old Military Ghost (Green)
Trickster/ Chaos & Plenty (Orange/ Blue / Stripes)
As the warlords dissolved with the formation of the Authority, costumes representing the most fearsome of these unsettling archetypes made their way into community plays. At one time used by the warlords to entertain coercion from weary travelers, they also were used to hide the identities of the criminals. In time, these characters were used by the Authority to inform children of inherent dangers outside the protection of the community zones. Eventually these figures became an accepted and essential presence in birthing rituals, funerals, and field blessings, each with their own unique ritualized task integral to the narrative of the event.
Battle Flag (warlord era)
The people who became warlords were on top of the world just as it ended for completely random reasons. You might have been one if you were in their shoes at that moment. It was as though the world was one big musical chair game with only a few chairs left, the music stopped and a handful of the luckiest and toughest ruled the land for a short intense moment. Urban centers were a different matter altogether, the influence of the warlords never left. Warlords were often those who had direct access to supplies, weapons, or had hoarded resources for trade. They directed underlings to search the land and city-scapes for what simple armed thieves or the starving near-cannibals had not yet consumed. The warlords built armies that took control of the roads for tolls, stripping small towns and their population of everything useful. As the world’s last electric gasps allowed them, they ran high-octane super-charged engines on open stretches of road in bizarre nihilistic jousting matches to the death.
This battle flag might have been flown from the antenna of such a car, now rusted relics such as the Pontiac GTO, the Lincoln Continental, and the Chevelle.
North American Flag (designs from 2030-2060)
Theses flags are variations on anti-Authority Warlord propaganda and speak of power and acquisition by individuals versus the collectivism promoted by Authority community values.
Flags of this sort were most likely positioned vertically behind the large desk chair of a local warlord to project a sense of ironic historical propriety while instilling fear in the midst of their dealings. With the last vestige of the States’ and its world torn down, all that was left were personal memories and symbols held over from the last days waiting to be reapportioned. This dark re-imagining of the United States American Flag (1776-2028) is hewn of the road.
After industrial production stopped, fabric and textiles of every kind were sought, hoarded, and carefully stored. The original was most likely a commission sewn with a treadles power modified sewing machine.
Animal Carrier (warlord era)
Indicated by the welded construction and industrial mesh not been manufactured since, this must have been fabricated before the chaos. For that reason it’s exact origins are unknown. It is reasonable to assume this would have protected a beloved household pet from ill will under trying conditions. Based on the number of fabric layers present, there is evidence that it had been handed down or traded by numerous owners. The “science fiction” text marker also generates curiosity among historians about the origin of this object.
Nation Family Archive. Room #6. card catalog #35. unknown set #1005. large drawer #76.
Accumulated road marker and toll wall hanging reproduction of Nation Family collection (2165)
"Hewn of the road” is an idiom that exemplifies both the best and the worst of our human nature.
“First I would hear their footsteps in the distance. I knew they were coming. The warlords were near. I remember the sound of them unfolding their toll banners. Like thunder, it was as much fear as it was anticipation. Its ritual was somehow familiar, and yet distant. In my family's eyes,
I watched an unknown dread as they showed a routine normalcy of hospitality, while us children were entertained by the Boogy Man and the Trickster. They were gentle to the innocents.
To the others, I try not to imagine." - Bethany Travelled, 92
Two Ceremonial Oracles: Hoover Tank Emitter (2110-2265)
(Not Pictured) El Oráculo en el camino a Los Álamos (2115-2270)
The Dawn Workers split after the Reemergence. One group sought to complete lost technical engineering knowledge, the other chose a path that had become an accepted mystical society. Oracles were devices created by those who were believed to have the ability to see the past and the future. Utilizing highly dangerous materials, the properties of these vapors were inhaled by the user. The psychotropic effects produced were believed to create a connection between other Oracles at distant locations. A pilgrimage emerged from their legion of believers traveling along the network of Oracles seeking higher or more distant communications. Most of these devices have been destroyed but we are fortunate to have actual examples of these units, a small glimpse into the strange world of the Dawn Oracles.- The Mace of Olivia Manhattan (2102-2199)
The Mace of Manhattan exemplifies the beauty and the terror associated with power. Olivia of Manhattan wielded physical pain and judgment in the palm of her elegant, young hands, and delighted in serving process by her terms. This scepter was used without mercy against those who challenged her reign; it's aesthetic qualities conveying awe and fear. In this time, stories and myth blurred into a hyper-real intensity still not clearly defined. Whether the propaganda of her tyranny was more myth than reality, we have still not determined.
Warlord Olivia Manhattan was the longest living matriarch of New York City. - The 26th Mayor of Chicago (2056-2210)
This “Mayor of Chicago” is a scepter of power handed down from the first warlords. In the time since the chaos of the Fall, this symbolic cane has changed from its presence as an actual shotgun, to a more ceremonial but, just as deadly version of the shotgun design. Likewise, succession in the rule of City State Chicago has evolved from warlords vying for office through hand-to-hand combat in octagonal pits. In recent decades, a citizen democracy and small senate negotiate succession based on a more organized system of political regime.
This artifact has been loaned by the current and 35th Mayor of Chicago, Ms.“Steady” Treset.
- Storyteller’s Drops (2035-2250)
Before the chaos, most of the world’s libraries and archives had been converted into digital formats. Paper books became antiquated and though cherished by many, the production and distribution of book editions had diminished to a trickle and completely ceased more than a decade before the disruption. It is obvious to us now during the event of 2026, we lost nearly the entirety of human historical record. It was no small tragedy that most print paper had already become uncommon, but compounding this problem the electricity used to run all other informational archives both public and personal disappeared almost overnight. Unaware of the scope of the unfolding events anything that could be burned for warmth or cooking was used for survival, including most of the remaining books and paper.
For as many who wandered looking simply for food and clean water there were as many in shock that their lives, location, and history had been erased. Individuals and then groups became recognized for their ability to remember and re-record the history of collective memory among the survivors. Traveling storytellers became an instrumental part of community life.
The arrival of those reciting their personal and handed down memories was met with excitement and anticipation.
Many storytellers would travel with lightweight banners often painted with a list of authors or stories they were keen to perform. Sometimes these selections were an assortment of fragmentary works, with others the oeuvre of specific authors might be the focus, or single works of literature that would be recited over many nights. Central meeting places became a social hub of storytelling, music, shared communal knowledge, and history. - The Power is On (2211)
Actual fabric banner to celebrate November 8, 2211 made upon the symbolic return of electrical power. On this day Physicist Alisa Benton and Mechanical Engineer Bruce Su successfully and safely re-powered Susquehanna Station which had lain dormant save for nearly seven decades of covert re-machining and painstaking solid state hardware restoration. Nearly six generations of scientists were involved in the total effort to restore power, from those who carefully mothballed the station in the dark with reserve battery power, to those who threw the go-switch 185 years later.
Dawn Workers and Cablers uniforms, Late Period (Orange)
The Dawn Workers were philosophically motivated to engineer the Return at all costs. Initially a culture of both professional scientists and programmers, their electromechanical and digital knowledge was passed down through families with hopelessly small odds it would ever be effectively utilized again. The Dawn’s purpose to reconnect and restart electrical power generation and digital communication started with the first cablers traveling the land along the un-powered routes of transmission lines and telephone cable, cataloging and leaving notations for future use. As the Sun eventually stopped emitting the EM disrupting particles, the ability to detect, generate, and store power gradually returned. Witness to this change, the Dawn Workers hid their knowledge of this fact for nearly a century. A secret network of generators and communications systems were restored to eventually lead a strategic and cultural advantage over the hegemony of the Authority and left over warlords. The cryptic notational language and primitive testing of the lines eventually lead the group’s strange albeit most effective demonstration of knowledge in the safe restarting of Susquehanna Station and the brief re-powering of both Manhattan Island and portions of central Chicago. Once the resulting urban conflagration finally died, the event became a signal to all that the power of Return was present, and the Dawn Workers would work to bring our world back into the light. The eventual influence and scope of the Dawn Movement continues to be a contentious subject in many communities, and the uniforms presented here have been purposefully stripped of group numbers, sect affiliations. Though public wearing of the Orange is now prohibited, the uniform can still be found in many proud Nation Family collections. - The Game Offline
The board game Offline was adapted from classic Chess and Go grids. It is differentiated most significantly by having four participants play against one another from remote locations. The element of engaging unseen participants over a long period of time was a factor in the early rules of the game. The objective of this turn based game has always been to manage, trade, and ultimately dominate resources. Control', an impartial referee and fifth participant, throws a series of scheduled randomized dice across their own smaller blank game surface. Each player's moves are communicated through land mail and actuated in their copy of the game board. Many Offline boards during this time were crafted from found or salvaged craft wood surfaces.
Many will recognize that these game boards represent the famous Offline match "Dead Set Five" (2210-2211) between players in City State Chicago, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Cleveland, with control in Toledo. After 125 turns, 41 weeks, and two substitute players, Augustine Williams was declared the champion having articulated the defining strategic maneuver now known as ‘Portage’. Surviving correspondences deemed Williams the North American grand master of Offline which she defended for over a decade in a series of landmark matches. Upon retirement in 2225, Williams continued as a Control, and proceeded to write the well known bound volumes of Offline strategy and philosophy baring her name.
"When benevolence wanes, you best bet on intelligence. The alternative lies crushed in the road."
- Augustine Williams (2186-2242)
Our local Williams Nation Family has proudly loaned their complete collection of Augustine's Offline surfaces and her game pieces.
