Dark Matter - Where are we, and what's next?

Astrophysical observations give overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter. Several viable forms of dark matter have been proposed, and axions and WIMPs have emerged as the favored candidates. Nuclear recoil experiments have made enormous progress in their sensitivity to the direct detection of dark matter, yet no clear signal has been observed. A claim of the annual modulation signal of WIMP dark matter by the DAMA experiment remains unconfirmed. I will describe the status of the field. I also will describe DM-Ice, a low-background NaI(Tl)-based dark matter experiment aimed at understanding the DAMA signal and unambiguously testing the hypothesis of a dark-matter induced annual modulation signal. DM-Ice17, a prototype experiment consisting of 17kg of NaI(Tl) detectors, has been continuously operating at the South Pole for over 4 years demonstrating the feasibility of a low-background experiment in the Antarctic ice. The results from DM-Ice17 and prospects for DM-Ice will be presented.​