On December 17th, only a few days after the UN's Climate Change Conference in Bali, Mr. Sand will erect a temporary bridge of ice outside the UN-building. 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 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.
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.
ANTARCTICA: On Thin Ice will be unveiled December 17, 2007 during a reception hosted by the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations. The exhibition runs through January 31, 2008.
Click here to watch the project video!