Photo: Lars Inge Bremnes, Norwegian Consulate General New York.
On December 17th, only a few days after the UN's Climate Change Conference in Bali, the renowned Norwegian artist Mr. Sand unveiled a temporary bridge of ice outside the UN-building, to a massive media presence from all around the world. The bridge will stand as a symbol of the perils climate change represents. As the bridge slowly melts away, the artist’s hope is that people of the world will be reminded of the melting of the Antarctic glaciers due to climate change.
The structure of the bridge is based on Leonardo da Vinci’s “Golden Horn” bridge design, a design that has inspired the artist to build “Leonardo-bridges” both in Norway and, last year, in Antarctica. The New York ice bridge is not to be the last, however: At the unveiling of the bridge, Sand announced his intentions of creating one ice bridge every year, in new cities. Naming his project "Live Ice", Sand continues his efforts to raise awareness of global warming and climate changes taking place globally.
Sand and his team were up all night, with vital help from staff from the Norwegian Mission to the United Nations, who braved the cold East River wind in Turtle Bay and managed to get the bridge safely in place before the opening. At approximately 7 ft tall, the bridge is carved from a solid block of ice, and is slowly melting, reminding staff and visitors at the UN of the importance of addressing climate change immediately.
"This bridge will melt soon," Mr. Sand told journalists and invited guests at the opening ceremony, "But the bridge in Antarctica must never melt. The Antarctic ice holds the fate and destiny of mankind, and we must not let the ice sheets melt."
Photo: Sara Shah / Norwegian Mission to the United Nations.
The ice sculpture at the UN building will be the centerpiece for a bigger exhibition showing artistic renditions of the fragile beauty of Polar Regions. Inside the UN Headquarters at the East Lobby Gallery, the work of artists and photographers from ten different countries will be on display. These artists’ images from the arctic and Antarctica will be coupled with NASA satellite photos showing the vulnerability and rapid transformation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Norwegian Ambassador to the United Nations, Johan Løvald, opened the exhibit along with Under Secretary General for Department of Public Information at the United Nations, Kiyotaka Akasaka and Professor Michael Oppenheimer of Geosciences and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Other works in the exhibit include watercolors by early Antarctic explorer Edward Adrian Wilson and photographs by Frank Hurley who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on the ill-fated voyage of the “Endurance.” Vebjørn Sand’s paintings from Antarctica accompany other artists’ and photographers’ work including Yann Arthus Bertrand, Julian Calder, Sebastian Copeland, Lynn Davis, Devastus, Elina Garcia Garrido, Michio Hoshino, Fred Ivar Utsi Klemetsen, Stuart Klipper, Bonnie Malcolm, Hermann Neibuhr, Anne Noble, Charly Nijenshon and Gordon Wiltsie.
The exhibition "ANTARCTICA: On Thin Ice" will run through January 31, 2008.
Click here to see the project video!
Photo: Lars Inge Bremnes, Norwegian Consulate General New York.