Olafur Eliasson Brings Major Public Art Installation Ice Watch to London to Inspire Action Against Climate Change
Installation brings the reality of climate change to a global public by placing melting blocks of glacial ice in clock formation in the center of London
LONDON – Internationally acclaimed artist Olafur Eliasson, working in collaboration with leading geologist Minik Rosing, will display blocks of melting ice across two public sites in the center of London to create a major artwork, Ice Watch. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ice Watch will serve as a visceral reminder of the impact of climate change.
Launching on Tuesday 11 December 2018, to coincide with the meeting of world leaders at the COP24 climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, Ice Watch aims to inspire public action against climate change at this critical time. This installation follows a landmark report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 8 October 2018, which warned that we have only 12 years to limit the worst effects of climate change.
The blocks of ice were taken out of the waters of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland where they were melting into the ocean after having been lost from the ice sheet. In London, 24 blocks will be arranged in a clock formation on Bankside outside Tate Modern, where a major exhibition of Eliasson’s work will open in July 2019, and six additional blocks will be on display in the heart of the City of London outside Bloomberg’s European headquarters. As the ice gradually thaws, members of the public will have an opportunity to encounter the tangible effects of climate change by seeing and feeling the ice melt away.
“It is clear that we have only a short period of time to limit the extreme effects of climate change,” said Olafur Eliasson. “By enabling people to experience and actually touch the blocks of ice in this project, I hope we will connect people to their surroundings in a deeper way and inspire radical change. We must recognize that together we have the power to take individual actions and to push for systemic change. Let’s transform climate knowledge into climate action.”
“Ice Watch vividly captures the urgency of tackling climate change,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We hope Olafur Eliasson’s work of art will inspire bolder and more ambitious actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by governments, businesses, and communities.”
“I am delighted this important work is coming to London, building on our rich heritage of public art and demonstrating our ongoing commitment to making London a greener, more sustainable city,” said Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries. “London has always been unafraid to blaze a trail and the Mayor has set us the ambitious target of becoming a zero-carbon city. This sculpture will capture the imagination and help Londoners of all ages to understand first-hand the environmental challenges we all face.”
“Since 2015, the melting of ice in Greenland has raised global sea level by 2.5 mm. Since the discovery of the greenhouse effect in 1896, global temperatures have increased more than one degree Celsius. Earth is changing at an ever-increasing speed,” said Minik Rosing “The foundation of human civilization withers away while Greenland melts. Everyone can observe it, most can understand it, and nobody can avoid it. Science and technology have made it possible for us to destabilize Earth’s climate, but now that we understand the mechanisms behind these changes, we have the power to prevent them from growing.”
Ice Watch London is the third iteration of the Ice Watch artwork, with each installment timed to coincide with a global climate change event. The first installment opened in 2014 outside Copenhagen’s City Hall to mark the publication of the UN Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change by the IPCC. In 2015, Ice Watch Paris at the Place du Panthéon accompanied the 2015 COP 21 talks that led to the Paris Climate Agreement.
Other critically acclaimed works include Eliasson’s 2003 Tate Modern installation The Weather Project, seen by more than 2 million people.
Depending on weather conditions, Ice Watch is expected to be on view in London until Friday, 21 December 2018. Any remaining ice will then be taken to local community and cultural institutions as part of an extended educational program.
For more information and images visit icewatchlondon.com and on social media using #IceWatchLondon.
Press contacts
Bolton & Quinn
Erica Bolton (erica@boltonquinn.com / 077116 98186)
Jane Quinn (jq@boltonquinn.com / 07771 858728)
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Rebecca Carriero (rebeccac@bloomberg.org / +1 212–205–0182)
Studio Olafur Eliasson
Martin Enoch (martin.enoch@olafureliasson.net / +49 (0) 30 2000 391 29)
Media Assets
Images and video footage can be downloaded at icewatchlondon.com.
Social Media
Twitter: @olafureliasson @BloombergDotOrg @MikeBloomberg
Instagram: @studioolafureliasson @BloombergDotOrg @MikeBloomberg
Hashtags: #IceWatchLondon #ClimateAction
Notes to Editors
Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson’s art is driven by his interests in perception, movement, embodied experience, and feelings of self. Art, for him, is a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world. Well-known for his 2003 installation The weather project, at Tate Modern London, which was seen by over two million visitors, Eliasson works in a range of media that spans sculpture, painting, photography, film, and installation. Not limited to the confines of the museum and gallery, his practice engages the broader public sphere through architectural projects, interventions in civic space, arts education, policy-making, and issues of sustainability and climate change. In 2012, Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen founded the social business Little Sun, which encourages sustainable development through sales of Little Sun solar-powered lamps and chargers (littlesun.com). Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann founded Studio Other Spaces, an international office for art and architecture, in Berlin in 2014 (studiootherspaces.net).
Eliasson’s work Your double lighthouse projection (2002) will be on display at Tate Modern from 17 December 2018 to January 2019, leading up to a major survey exhibition opening at the museum on 11 July 2019.
Minik Thorleif Rosing
Professor of geology at the Natural History Museum of Denmark at Copenhagen University, he has participated in the geological exploration of Greenland and is world famous for having backdated the origin of life on Earth by several hundred million years.
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Bloomberg Philanthropies works in over 480 cities in more than 120 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organization focuses on five key areas for creating lasting change: Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s charitable activities, including his foundation, corporate and personal giving. In 2017, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $702 million. For more information, please visit www.bloomberg.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter.
Ice Watch coincides with a series of Bloomberg Philanthropies events and interventions calling for climate change action. These include ‘Climate Exchange’ – a sustainability conference to be co-hosted by UN Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg and Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Radhika Jones on the 12th December – and a special BAFTA screening of Paris to Pittsburgh, a collaboration between National Geographic Documentary Films and Bloomberg Philanthropies that brings to life the efforts of individuals who are battling the most severe threats of climate change.
Julie’s Bicycle
Julie’s Bicycle is a London based charity that supports the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability. Julie’s Bicycle supports the Paris Agreement goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by focusing on energy, the major source of carbon emissions for the cultural sector. More than 2,000 companies use the Creative IG Tools, our suite of carbon calculators, and our certification scheme, Creative Green, is the recognized benchmark for sustainability achievement within the creative industries.