Balgarianovinite.com In an interview for the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), Colombian artist Daniela Medina Poch said that while there is environmental awareness in Antarctica, there are also national interests. “I think that sometimes they can complement each other, and at other times they clash and create tensions that are worth discussing,“ she added.
Medina Poch is originally from Colombia and has been based in Germany for the past six years. Her work explores different environmental narratives and seeks to challenge the way the relationship between humans and the environment is understood. She focuses on rethinking ecological narratives through the lens of social justice.
This year, she is taking part in the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition as part of the international cooperation programme of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.
“We cannot think about the environment without also thinking about the people who live in insecure and vulnerable conditions. If we are to build better relationships with other species, it is equally important to understand how to become more just and equitable as a society,” Medina said.
Her Antarctic project is titled We Seek Fire, But We Actually Need Water and addresses the tensions within the Antarctic Treaty System.
“On the one hand, there is an approach focused on environmental care and ecological awareness. At the same time, different nations are trying, let’s say, to establish a presence there—not by drawing borders, but by ensuring they have a say regarding territorial claims. This is also linked to the fact that Antarctica, unlike Greenland, has resources beneath its surface. So there are competing interests. There is environmental awareness, and there are national interests. Sometimes they complement each other, and at other times they clash and create tensions that are worth discussing,” she added.
She explained that her concept centres on the idea that water should not be seen as a resource, but as a source of information. “What is beautiful is that the word ‘resource’ contains the word ‘source’,” she noted.
Medina added that she chose Antarctica for her current project because it contains 70% of the planet’s freshwater.
“Antarctica also holds millennia-old ice—frozen water that has preserved information for so many years. The fact that the planet is warming means this information is being lost. In that sense, Antarctica is a perfect fit: not only because it is the largest ice reservoir on Earth, but also because of all the information stored within the ice,” she said.
According to her, a person who sets foot in Antarctica becomes a conduit for glacial water and the information it holds.
“I believe Antarctica is a ‘threshold’ territory. It is not easily accessible; many forms of life cannot survive there, even at the level of bacteria. Antarctica and the subconscious resonate with each other—as a threshold between realities. It was very important for me to record my dreams and write down my thoughts. I took extensive notes, created diagrams of every idea that came to mind, and developed free associations,” she said.
Medina combines intuitive and sociological questions with scientific facts in her research. One of her methods involves micro-poetic actions, such as placing a sign reading “What is the mineral world screaming?” at various locations on Livingston Island and writing “ImagiNation” on the beach in front of Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Antarctic base.
“Through micro-poetic actions, I connect with a place in a different way. I create an ‘extraordinary’ space [..] I create an exception, an in-between situation, which allows me to connect with the environment and with people in an unconventional way,” she noted. “On the one hand, the word ‘imagination’ contains the word ‘nation.’ On the other hand, imagination is closely linked to lack of access: imagination is the tool we use to reach what we cannot access. Since Antarctica is largely inaccessible, imagination can become a tool through which people who cannot physically reach it can still care for it. The underlying question was: can we care for a place without having access to it? Can we protect something or develop an attachment to something we cannot access or directly connect with? Can imagination be a tool for shaping different kinds of relationships? I believe it can,” the artist said.
In her view, Antarctic ice is crucial because it regulates the planet’s temperature, yet beneath it lie resources that may tempt nations due to their great economic value.
“I see Antarctica as the forbidden apple: if we take the apple, we will lose paradise. Of course, there is demand for these resources, but accessing them at the cost of melting the planet’s largest ice reservoir could be extremely dangerous for humanity. It would mean 60 metres of additional water worldwide,” she said.
Medina’s goal is to bring together her observations and activities from the Antarctic project into video and photographic works, as well as artistic installations, for an exhibition to be presented in Germany, Portugal, and possibly Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) departed for Antarctica from Varna (on the Black Sea) on November 7, 2025. After a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship arrived at the Argentine naval base in Mar del Plata on December 13.
BTA has had a national press club on board the ship since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said they exist thanks to the generous support of RSV 421 and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities. These two press clubs are added to the news agency’s other 41 national press clubs (33 in Bulgaria, seven abroad in neighbouring countries and in nations with large Bulgarian communities, and one mobile National Book Press Club).
The news items of BTA’s special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English on the agency’s website. They can be used free of charge by all media, with attribution to BTA. Colombian Artist Daniela Medina Poch Speaks to BTA about Her Environmentally-Focused Project 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-02-17 00:27:54 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law