All aboard Cape Farewell 2008!

The seventh Cape Farewell Art/Science expedition launches today at a North American launch event in New York. It is being hosted by musician and environmental activist Vanessa Carlton. At the event, artist and Cape Farewell founder and artistic director David Buckland will introduce the Cape Farewell project and launch the 2008 Arctic expedition.

Cape Farewell pioneers the cultural response to climate change. It is widely acknowledged to be the most significant sustained artistic response to climate change anywhere in the world. Cape Farewell asks our best creative minds to respond to and inspire a cultural response to the potential devastating climate crisis. The aim is to inspire the creative team to respond to climate change both in the Arctic and upon their return.

The 2008 Art/Science expedition, which runs from 25 September – 6 October, is the seventh of its kind. It features a 40-strong crew of artists and scientists, including: Musicians KT Tunstall, Vanessa Carlton, Laurie Anderson, Feist, Jarvis Cocker, Martha Wainwright and Robyn Hitchcock. Also on board are: Beatboxer Shlomo, Composer Jonathan Dove, Comedian Marcus Brigstocke, Theatre Makers Mojisola Adebayo, Suzan-Lori Parks, Artists Kathy Barber, David Buckland, Sophie Calle, Jude Kelly, Michèle Noach, Tracey Rowledge, Julian Stair, Chris Wainwright, Architects Francesca Galeazzi, Sunand Prasad, Poet Lemn Sissay, Photographer Nathan Gallagher BBC presenter Quentin Cooper, Senior Lecturer (Open University), Joe Smith, Activist David Noble and Film Director Peter Gilbert. They join Oceanographers Simon Boxall and Emily Venables, and Geoscientist Carol Cotterill for a journey to the Arctic and the frontline of climate change.

The journey starts in Kangerlussuaq, in western Greenland, aboard the science research vessel Grigory Mikheev, and moves northward to Disko Bay and across the front of the Jakobshavn Glacier, one of Greenland's largest and fastest-moving glaciers. The Jakobshavn is losing an estimated 20 million tons of ice every day, and is racing toward the ocean at a pace of 30 to 40 metres per day.

On board science crews from the British Geological Survey and National Oceanography Centre will complete science research, mapping the ocean currents and analyzing the Greenland seabed. Fil Director Peter Gilbert will be documenting the journey and making a film for Sundance TV Channel upon his return.

Follow the crew at www.2degreesC.com, where you’ll get live information on the expedition, and daily updates with the latest news and images from the Arctic.