Ice Watch

Ice from Nuuk, Greenland is in the streets of Paris this week for the COP21 climate negotiations, to remind visitors that the world’s ice is melting fast, especially in the Arctic where global temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on Earth. Greenland is already contributing substantially to global sea level rise, and if all the ice in Greenland melts, sea level will rise 7 meters or 21 feet.

Part of the Artists4ParisClimate2015 initiative, this exhibit, titled “Ice Watch”, was designed by artist Olafur Eliasson and geologist Minik Thorleif Rosing.

The ice is arranged in a circle, to evoke a clock and indicate the passing of time, and to create a space in which people can watch the ice melt, and listen to it crackle and pop, as the 15,000 year old air trapped inside the ice is released. The artist says:

“It is a little pop that has travelled fifteen thousand years to meet you in Paris, and tell the story of climate change.”

To get more information about this exhibit and see video of the exhibit and of the artists capturing and moving the ice in Greenland, check out their web site http://icewatchparis.com/.