Up, Up, Up

Climate warming causes numerous changes in our environment and ecosystems that are impacting biodiversity. Some of these impacts are occurring rapidly, are already clearly visible, and are receiving a great deal of attention. Others, however, take much longer to manifest and often escape our attention. Mountain ecosystems present an interesting contradiction: The climate is warming faster than the global average, but vegetation is responding more slowly as expected. Yet plants are shifting habitats to follow the conditions to which they are adapted.

“Up, Up, Up” is a research-based art project by Uriel Orlow based in Engadine and the Swiss National Park that aims to connect this unique local context to the global issues of climate change by focusing on the forced ascent of plants due to rising temperatures. The slow change in summit flora is literally outside the frame. So how can we bring them into the frame? How can we make them visible in a different way?