#futuresnorth

On January 27, 2018, Futures North and the Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington, Minnesota will present Phase Two, a public artwork that creatively re-presents the effects of climate change with an engaging spatial construction of melting ice. Designed by public art collaborative Futures North, the ephemeral installation will consist of ice harvested from Wood Duck Pond at the Richardson Nature Center during their annual Ice Harvesting Day. This ice will face a lattice of programmable infra-red lamps that will fluctuate according to data derived from climate change research. The heat produced by the lights will correspond to historical and projected data and melt the sculpture according to three different 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 will demonstrate the effects of the most extreme climate change forecasts.

The event runs from 11am-3pm. More info at this link.

An earlier version of Phase Two was presented at Northern Spark 2016 (as Phase Change) and was supported by Northern Lights.mn and the McKnight Foundation.

Our new project, Phase Change, will debut at this year’s Northern Spark arts festival on June 11, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Phase Change creatively re-presents the effects of climate change through an engaging and dynamic spatial construction of melting ice. The ephemeral installation consists of 12,000 pounds of ice harvested from Lake Calhoun (Dakota name "Bde Maka Ska") in March 2016 and stored passively from March-June. This sculptural ice form faces a lattice of infra-red lamps that are programmed to fluctuate based on data derived from climate change research. The heat produced by the lights corresponds to historical and projected climate change data and melts the sculpture according to three different 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.

Futures North has partnered with youth from Yea! MN and educators from Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy to guide visitors in conversation about the conditions that threaten to overcome us. Visitors are invited to sit and observe the ‘phase change’ of ice melting to water and consider what our collective future holds.

Meander (2015) project video.