Tag Archives: Ice Sculpture

The Truth Will Set You Free

At the end of 2017, one year into the Trump presidency, the familiar begins to escape us.

The Autocrat's Language

"Using words to lie destroys language. Using words to cover up lies, however subtly, destroys language. Validating incomprehensible drivel with polite reaction also destroys language. This isn’t merely a question of the prestige of the writing art or the credibility of the journalistic trade: it is about the basic survival of the public sphere.

In Russia, first they came for the words of politics, value, and passion. Then they came for the words of action, the words that describe buildings, the numbers that denote dates. And then there were no words left to speak. Not that this is a Russian phenomenon.

Here is what Confucius had to say on the topic:

If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything."

-- Masha Gessen, The Autocrat's Language, NYRDaily

RSS What Donald Trump Says

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Live Stream January 20, 2018

TRUTH BE TOLD – unveiled at 3 PM, January 20, 2018, first anniversary of the Trump inauguration, at Jim Kempner Fine Art 501 West 23 Street, NY, NY, streaming live until it’s gone.

This is the sixth in a series we’ve done since 2006. The temporary monuments of Melted Away are markers for the opening decades of the 21st century – first, DEMOCRACY is broken, then, the ECONOMY ruined; the MIDDLE CLASS disappears, THE FUTURE is tenuous, THE AMERICAN DREAM vanishes, and TRUTH remains an open question.

Site is visible from the street at all times, 24/7. We will be streaming LIVE for the duration, at meltedaway.com, on Facebook Live and on a network of galleries in North America. (Participating venues listed below.) Comments welcome – on Twitter @melted_away, Instagram @meltedaway, and on the Facebook Live feed.

The work will last for days, one week, possibly longer, in an almost imperceptible disintegration that belies the force and speed at which the current administration is attempting to undermine the basic concepts of our nation’s history and governance.

Jim Kempner Fine Art is located at 501 West 23 Street, corner of 10 Avenue and 23 Street.

Thanks to net neutrality the entirety of TRUTH BE TOLD is streaming at these galleries, universities, institutions and museums:

  • ArtsEverywhere
  • Catharine Clark Gallery
  • Contemporary Art Museum, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
  • Eyebeam
  • Harbourfront Centre
  • Institute of the Arts and Sciences and the Digital Art/New Media MFA Program of UC Santa Cruz Arts Division
  • Nevada Museum of Art
  • San Francisco Art Institute
  • San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
  • Streaming Museum
  • Division of Media Arts + Practice, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California
  • University of Texas at Austin Department of Art
  • Washington University, St. Louis, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
On Location with Streaming Partners

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Hot of the Presses

Just finished printing this beautiful 18 x 24 inch full-color offset broadside for the Dawn of the Anthropocene Future ice sculpture this Sunday, September 21.

We’re giving the poster away for free during the event from 10 AM to 10 PM.

As the Future disappears, we felt the need to leave behind and give a message to inspire others for continued commitment to solving the climate crisis.

We found a wonderful passage from Rachel Carson, author of the pioneering book Silent Spring which ignited environmentalism and a statement from Rebecca Solnit on the importance of amplifying individual actions into the power of many.

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The Future In Ice – Launches 9.21.14

The Future

Dawn of the Anthropocene Rendering

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 we’re launching Dawn of the Anthropocene a 21-foot wide ice sculpture weighing 3,000 pounds of the words “The Future.”

We’ll be filming and photographing the temporary monument as it melts away and will stream the video live on this website meltedaway as well as provide the video for other organizations to embed.

Journalists, poets and writers will be participating in short term residencies throughout the day.

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New Ice Sculpture NYC September 2014

Dawn of the Anthropocene

On the morning of September 21, 2014, we will install a 3,000-pound ice sculpture of the words The Future at the intersection of Broadway and 23rd Streets at Flat Iron North Plaza in New York City. This public art work coincides with the U.N. Climate Summit and the Peoples Climate March to underscore the necessity for immediate action to confront global warming.

We plan for The Future, measuring 21 feet wide and 5 feet tall, to melt away. During this process we photograph and film the installation’s disappearance posting it on the internet in real-time. This event overlaps many art forms, it’s part sculpture, part installation, part performance, and an internet media event. But most of all, we make art for social change installing temporary public sculptures to mark important historical events. The Climate Summit is that and more.

We’re calling the piece, Dawn of the Anthropocene to describe the effect of humanity on the Earth’s systems. The term comes from Nobel prize scientist Paul Crutzen. In his and other scientists’ view, humanity has entered an age when the power and impact of humans is as great, if not greater, than nature’s.

When you begin to witness the rapid changes occuring on the planet, rising températures, increasing droughts, the extinction of vast numbers of species, you think about loss and disappearance. Ice is the perfect material for bringing awareness of what that kind of change means.

This project follows our earlier ice projects which we call “temporary monuments.” In 2008, we installed ice sculptures of the words Democracy at the political conventions, Economy on the 79th anniversary of the Great Depression, and Middle Class in 2012 in Charlotte and Tampa. (World Policy Institute.) These ice sculptures materially underscore the impact of political and social ideas that often escape the public’s attention.

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