If you’re in Paris, you may have noticed that there are 12 huge glaciers placed in a clock formation on the Place du Panthéon, but you may not know why. In order to draw attention to climate change, artist Olafur Eliasson and geologist Minik Rosing coincided their public artwork called Ice Watch Paris with COP21 this week, where the United Nations held a conference on the issue.
“From my visit to the Arctic last year I have a very lively memory of the horrifying noise and sight of huge ice blocks cracking and breaking away from the pack. The Arctic is indeed the gatekeeper of climate disorder: for years, this region has been sending us signals that we cannot neglect anymore. The international community must hear them and turn them into acts,” says Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, President of COP21.
The blocks of ice melting in Paris were taken from free-floating icebergs from the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland and weigh around 80 tons. Since the harvesting ice had already broken away from the ice sheet, the project didn’t have a negative effect on the environment. Group Greenland handled the transportation, which was made possible through the hard work of Royal Arctic Line divers and dockworkers. Six refrigerated containers were loaded on a ship to make it to Denmark and from there they were driven to Paris on trucks. Funding was possible with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies and helped realised with creative sustainability charity Julie’s Bicycle. Ice Watch Paris is also honest about the impact of the transportation, stating it’s carbon footprint as “30 tonnes CO2e.”
“As an artist I hope my works touch people, which in turn can make something that may have previously seemed quite abstract into reality,” says Eliasson. “Art has the ability to change our perceptions and perspectives on the world and Ice Watch makes the climate challenges we are facing tangible. I hope it will inspire shared commitment to taking climate action.”
This project is not only a beautiful artistic statement, it’s also scientifically researched and backed. Not just a geologist, Minik Rosing is actually a professor at the Natural History Museum of Denmark whose research led to “the dating of the origin of life on Earth to several hundred million years earlier than previously thought.”
