On Sunday 8th September 'Les Vestiges', a short film by Rebecca Birch and Sarah Casey screened for the first time at the Loetschenpass hut. The mountain cabin, at 2690m in the Swiss alps, on the border of Valais and Bern cantons, is adjacent to the one of the most important sites for glacial archaeology in Switzerland.
As night fell, cloud closed in and sleety snow began to fall, a small audience of hikers, archaeologists and mountain workers gathered in the refuge of the Loetschenpass hut to watch the film 'premiere'.
‘Les Vestiges’ is a short film about the precarity of glacial archaeology, explored through heat-sensitive drawings that react to environmental
conditions, amplifying invisible elements that affect the ice and archaeology such as heat, wind, erosion. The film was shot in Valais and Bern in 2023, including at the archaeological site at the Loetschenpass where artefacts as old as 3000 years have melted out of retreating ice. Narrated using excerpts of interviews with archaeologists Pierre -Yves Nicod and Regula Gubler. Les Vestiges follows Sarah Casey’s work with these archaeologists, using synergies between the precarity of drawing, archaeology and the ice in which it has been preserved to reflect on human entanglements in stories of geological and environmental change in high mountain areas.
The film was followed by a presentation from archaeologist @regula_gubler Gubler who leads the archaeological survey of the Loetschenpass, about the context of glacial archaeology and the important finds found in the Loetschenpass.
The screening at Loetschenpass was particularly meaningful for this film about glacial archaeology – as many important finds are made not by archaeologists but by other people in the mountains. If they lie unnoticed they will rapidly disappear forever.
The screening was first suggested by Rebecca Birch and made possible thanks to the generosity of hut guardians Andrea Strohmaier and Beat Deitrich for hosting the event.
The film was realised thanks to the support of Cantonal museums of Valais and funding from Lancaster University AHRC Impact Acceleration Account, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, VACMA award from Creative Scotland Cabn Live Borders and Dumfries and Galloway Council.
This would not be possible without the input and support from archaeologists Pierre-Yves Nicod, Regula Gubler, Regula Glatz and Philippe Curdy.
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