Futures North, Phase Change, West River Parkway, Northern Spark 2016. Photo: Max Haynes.
Futures North, Phase Change, West River Parkway, Northern Spark 2016. Photo: Max Haynes.
Futures North, Phase Change, West River Parkway, Northern Spark 2016. Photo: Max Haynes.
400 lb blocks of ice cut from Lake Calhoun in March 2016. Photo courtesy the artists.
Ice in passive storage March-June. Photo: courtesy the artists.
Phase Change creatively represents the effects of climate change through an engaging and dynamic spatial construction of melting ice. The ephemeral installation consists primarily of 12,000 pounds of ice harvested from Lake Calhoun in March 2016 and stored passively from March-June. The sculptural ice form faces a lattice of infra-red lamps that are programmed with data derived from climate change data to signify our changing climate. The lights’ heat will intensify based on climate change data to melt the sculpture in sections corresponding to both historical and projected climate change data. The three sections of the melted form will visualize three climate change scenarios: a pre-industrial simulation that depicts climatic conditions as if the industrial era never happened; the present-day scenario; and the “worst-case” scenario that demonstrates the effects of the most extreme climate change forecasts.
Youth from Yea! MN and educators from Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy will guide visitors in conversation about climate change. Visitors are invited to sit and observe the ‘phase change’ of ice melting to water and consider what our collective future holds.
Futures North is a collaborative design+fabricate+build team comprised of Daniel Dean, John Kim, Adam Marcus, and Molly Reichert. We share a passion for design, innovative technologies, and the construction of social art spaces. We have an interest in the aesthetics of data; and how new technologies can help us to visualize, reveal, understand and celebrate the diverse fields of information that flow through contemporary culture.
Special thanks to Mill City Museum for passive storage of the ice.
View more photos from Phase Change on the Northern Spark Flickr here!