The Visitors Book
Miramar Pop-up
Code WELL_MIR
General Admission
15 Mins
In 1967, Karl Marshall was a 3M copier technician in New Zealand. He received a routine service call—only this one took him to the South Pole. There and back in a week, his unlikely journey became a footnote in Antarctic history. Now, decades later, Karl’s quiet story resurfaces in the most unexpected of places: a vintage 3M 209 automatic copier, defrosting in a concrete silo.
The Visitors Book is a three-part narrative installation that links Marshall’s accidental adventure with the tragic final letter of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, written to Sir Joseph Kinsey in 1912. Through the lens of a duplicating machine, Scott’s final words are reprinted, re-emerged, and scattered across the floor—echoes of the past retold in paper and light.
At Christchurch’s Tūranga Library, Kinsey’s original Visitors Book is displayed, open to the final entry marking the coordinates where Scott’s body was found. At Kinsey’s Den and Darkroom, visitors step inside the very space where Scott’s legacy was mourned and preserved, where portraits are still made by hand and a new Visitors Book awaits the next explorer’s mark.
This immersive experience invites audiences to step into history—not just as spectators, but as participants—reflecting on the stories we duplicate, the memories we hold, and how we each shift our compass toward what truly matters.
The Visitors Book is a three-part narrative installation that links Marshall’s accidental adventure with the tragic final letter of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, written to Sir Joseph Kinsey in 1912. Through the lens of a duplicating machine, Scott’s final words are reprinted, re-emerged, and scattered across the floor—echoes of the past retold in paper and light.
At Christchurch’s Tūranga Library, Kinsey’s original Visitors Book is displayed, open to the final entry marking the coordinates where Scott’s body was found. At Kinsey’s Den and Darkroom, visitors step inside the very space where Scott’s legacy was mourned and preserved, where portraits are still made by hand and a new Visitors Book awaits the next explorer’s mark.
This immersive experience invites audiences to step into history—not just as spectators, but as participants—reflecting on the stories we duplicate, the memories we hold, and how we each shift our compass toward what truly matters.