Iceland Volcano Traps New School Students and Faculty
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
As Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano in Iceland, halted all transatlantic air travel from April 14 to 21, Dr. Halpern and several other members of The New School community were among those stuck in Europe.
Originally, Dr. Halpern, a professor at Lang and The New School for Social Research, intended be in Europe for one weekend. She thought that she might get back a day late, but did not expect to stay six extra days.
"There was nothing you could do and that really flipped people out," she said. Being realistic about her inability to change the situation helped her make the best of her extra time in Munich. "At some point you give up and start enjoying beer and pretzels," she added.
Volcanic ash contains silicon and other glassy elements that a jet engine is hot enough to melt. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, if molten debris build up on the turbine blades, the engine can fail. Because of
the danger to aircraft from volcanic ash, there are nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers around the world. The London center put out the advisory on April 14 that caused flights to be cancelled to and from Europe.
volcano, the skies were blue," she said. To her academic mind, the fair weather raised another question: "whether you can understand something as a crisis or an issue if you can't experience it."
Halpern had flown to Europe for a meeting of the Poiesis Fellowship, a project based at the Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK) at New York University, and funded by BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, the Gerda Henkel
Foundation, and NYU. Studying "Design, Power and the Unanticipated in Social Change" is the stated goal of the fellowship. Currently, the fellowship is working on a project called "Remaking the City," which Halpern
described as "rethinking space." The fellowship brings together people from "radically different backgrounds" to try to understand the process and effects of active making.
Volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. Photo courtesy of Flickr
Arthur Hnatek, a drummer at The New School for Jazz, was performing at the jazz festival Bern in Bern, Switzerland when the volcano erupted. Several different bands were supposed to go, but one was unable to.
Each band was supposed to go for one week, but the volcano made it impossible for Hnatek's group to leave Switzerland. The next band couldn't come at all, so Hnatek's group played for two weeks in a row. "We had to perform three 45-minute sets every night," Hnatek said.
The jazz students had to cancel prior engagements in the U.S. and miss school. But Hnatek did not mind the delay. "It was a great overall experience," he said. "Just longer than expected."
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