Perched prominently on the remains of a volcanic cone, the Auckland Museum seemed like an obvious choice for Micheals because of its position, protected sightlines and its classical, unfussy design.
“The Auckland Museum the way it is placed in the domain is magnificent, it is perfect for projection mapping, it has a very even colour. I thought the grandness of the building paralleled the grandness of the ice-bergs,” Joseph Michael.
Upon his return from sea, Michael plunged into an entirely digital world as he worked tirelessly to viscerally re-create the scenes the team had just witnessed - the thunderous clap of ice-calving, the bass sound of pressurised ice and the sheer scale of Ernest.
I wanted to confuse the audience as to whether they are looking at an ice-berg or a building.
Joseph Michael
To this end, Micheals and his team created a 4 billion point scan of the building and a rich soundscape with the help of Wellington musician Rhian Sheehan.
And although the team had a hunch that Ernest would easily map onto Auckland Museum, it was only after creating a miniature model of the building that they could ensure they could pull it off the experience.
To re –create the spectacle of hearing the popping, creaking and sometimes thunderous sounds that emanated from these ice-bergs, 20 sub-woofer speakers were placed around the Museum to allow people to physically experience the sound.
"I wanted to the sound to be a physical thing you feel, because you very much feel the bass frequencies in Antarctica," Joseph Michael, RNZ
After months of testing this 45 minute experience, the day came to plant this epic iceberg in the heart of Auckland. The response was overwhelming. Twenty thousand people visited the multimedia art piece in March.
For Michael, who is now based in Brazil, this is the start of something much bigger and he hopes to send icebergs around the world to show people what we could be losing.