Camera Obscura

The grand narrative of modernity underlies our contemporary actions and endeavors, yet our belief in progress and limitless growth has not gone without criticism. Michel de Certeau notes the failure of the Grand Narrative due to the absence of banalities in the general principle of modernity. Instead of a grand narrative, many small narratives should emerge to better represent a complex reality. A glacier is a complex system. Glaciers are indicators of the world's climate, and complexity theory is the tool to represent the nature of complex systems. In light of daily news about global warming and acute environmental disasters, the question arises whether a glacier in our perception is merely a technologized medium for displaying climate, an objectified indicator.