VALIS Dome Exit, South Pole

• Main Author: Samaras, Connie
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: Pitzer College 2005
• Subjects: Antarctica; South Pole; Photography of polar regions; Observatory domes; Doorways; Ice; Snow; Photography; Fuller; Antarc*; South pole
• Online Access: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/pca,133

Connie Samaras’ Dome Exit is a photograph of an exit to the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome. Taken from the inside of the abandoned structure, Samaras’ captures Antarctica’s frigid climate from the interior of the dome that had harboured life on the South Pole since its construction in the 1970s. The only continent that remains ungoverned by an individual country, the climate of Antarctica creates uniquely uninhabitable conditions—the average lifespan for a man made structure on the South Pole is approximately thirty years before such architectural structure are submerged by blowing and drifting snow. Although the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome was one of the most identifiable architectural feature of the South Pole, it was concluded in 2005 that the dome had deteriorated past the point of repair. Like the other architectural structures that preceded it, the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome had begun to collapse under the weight of wind-driven snow. Samaras’ photograph documents snow and ice infiltrating the sheltering structure, a testament to the overwhelming power of Antarctica's natural environment and the potential futility of colonization efforts in such a climate.