On Sunday, twelve large blocks of ice, collected from a fjord outside Nuuk, Greenland, will arrive at Copenhagen’s City Hall Square. The ice, displayed in clock formation, is a physical wake-up call: Climate change is a fact. Temperatures are rising. The ice is melting. Sea levels are rising. With Ice Watch, artist Olafur Eliasson and geologist Minik Rosing have made a visually striking, haptic contribution to the climate debate. Their shared message:
Today we have access to reliable data that shed light on what will happen and what can be done. Let’s appreciate this unique opportunity – we, the world, must and can act now. Let’s transform climate knowledge into climate action.
Ice Watch was conceived to mark the publication of the Fifth Assessment Report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the event, accompanying its publication, hosted in Copenhagen from 27 to 31 October 2014. The IPCC report is based on scientific research by a global community of scientists and contains assessments of knowledge about climate change and its consequences.
OPENING ON SUNDAY, 26 OCTOBER, 14:00 CET, AT CITY HALL SQUARE. EVERYONE IS INVITED. Speeches will be held by the Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Morten Helveg Petersen; Deputy Mayor Morten Kabell; Minik Rosing; and Olafur Eliasson. The artwork will be on view until Wednesday, 29 October.
Olafur Eliasson: As an artist, I am interested in how we give knowledge a body. What does a thought feel like, and how can felt knowledge encourage action? Ice Watch makes the climate challenges we are facing tangible. I hope that people will touch the inland ice on City Hall Square and be touched by it. Perception and physical experience are cornerstones in art, and they may also function as tools for creating social change. We are all part of the ‘global we’; we must all work together to ensure a stable climate for future generations.
Minik Rosing: Ice is a wonderful, peculiar substance. Just as the progress of our civilisations has been tied to the coming and going of the ice ages, so, too, are our future destiny and the destiny of ice tied together. Through our actions we are now close to terminating the period of stable climate that served as the condition for civilisations to arise and flourish. Science and technology have made it possible for us to destabilise Earth’s climate, but now that we understand the mechanisms behind these changes, we have the power to prevent them from growing.
CREDITS. Project information.-
Ice weight.- 100 tonnes.
Origin.- The Nuup Kangerlua fjord outside Nuuk, Greenland.
Transport.- Collected by Royal Arctic Line divers and dockworkers, contracted by Group Greenland/ Greenland Glacier Ice, and shipped in four refrigerated containers on a containership from Nuuk to Denmark.
Support.- Ice Watch is made possible through support from Realdania. Responding to climate change is an important part of the association’s philanthropic engagement.
Ice Watch was conceived following a discussion about the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report with the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building.
Ice Watch is realised in collaboration with Sharing Copenhagen 2014.
When.- Sunday, 26 October 2014. 14 CET.
Where.- City Hall Square. Copenhagen, Denmark.
