2015: Agassiz Glacier Cancelled?
June 14, 2021
By AHNZ
This month in history, in June 2015, one of our glaciers was “un-named.” Sasha Huber travels the world picking up grants and awards and living as an artist-in-residence. Some people just have the knack or know how to pull strings…but her other main occupation is to seek and destroy the legacy of a famous scientist who died in 1873.
In 2015 Huber was hosted in New Zealand by Massey University (where else?) to try to eradicate her quarry from these isles. Louis Agassiz, the American biologist and geologist, is celebrated around the world and remembered by schoolhouses, squares, statues, lakes, glaciers, rivers, craters, many mountains, animals, awards, and even asteroids. Julius von Haast discovered and named one of the tributaries of the Franz Joseph Glacier after him: Agassiz Glacier. Also, the Agassiz Range in New Zealand has his name.
“The West Coast icecap hasn’t disappeared but it has been “un-named” as part of a global campaign to remove the use of the name of Agassiz, a Swiss geologist who believed not all races were created equal.” – Feud over ‘racist’ peak, NZ Herald (2015)
“The artist-in-residence programme that hosts Ms Huber at Te Whare Hēra on Wellington’s waterfront is jointly run by the college’s Whiti o Rehua School of Art and the council…Associate Professor Heather Galbraith from the school says, “we are thrilled that Sasha Huber has been able to mount such an intriguing and successful project within her very busy residency.” – Māori ceremony ‘un-names’ New Zealand glacier, Massey University (2015)
The Franz Joseph Glacier is joined by an important branch, “..coming also from a large glacier, which I called after Professor Agassiz, the illustrious naturalist.” – Haast, Lyttleton Times (1865); Papers Past
What did this revered scientist do wrong to overturn so much he did right? Agassiz was a Creationist and Race Realist. Apparently it’s no defense that he lived in the pre-Victorian era where such views were commonplace among Swiss and Americans and Maoris alike. He is supposed to have had, I suppose, 2015 views about biology and geology or else must be cancelled.
Huber now makes a career out of travelling the world as an artist and activist opposed to Agassiz. She calls her art circle ‘Demounting Louis Agassiz’. On c.7 June 2015, Sasha hired a cameraman (Tom Hoyle) and a Maori (Jeff Mahuika) and choppered up to the Agassiz glacier to cast an un-naming spell on it. This for publicity purposes only since New Zealand Geographic Board and Land Information New Zealand were not even asked to make any changes. Then, Huber flew away to another country to get some more grant money for killing off the great white enemy. Maybe one day she’ll stand on moon or Asteroid 2267 and do the same?
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Note: Haast had Maoris with him who, if they had known, might have advised him about the discoveries ahead. If they had names for the glaciers, they could have told him but this is not the case. After all, they would have been of Ngai Tahu tribe and as such far less familiar with this land than the Ngati Wairangi they had taken it from in the pre-Colonial days.
Date of 7 June date for the un-naming is based on the professional photographer’s known presence at the glacier. Why an artist needs to hire another artist to create her art is another question… Ref. Three Ways of Looking, Tom Hoyle; Flickr
Image ref. Mahuika and Huber defy Agassiz on the West Coast; Tom Hoyle, Sasha Huber art; Massey University
Image ref. Huber scowls at the Agassizhorn in the Swiss Alps from her aircraft in 2008; Sasha Huber art, Massey University
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