Melted Away is the online portal for Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese's site-specific installations from 2008 to the present with time-lapse videos and stills. These temporary monuments made of ice are full of tension – no one ever really knows what will happen from beginning to end, which letters break first, how long the words last, or even if people will slip and crash into them. This art has no safety net.
School of Good Citizenship: August 2020
[Charlotte, NC, August 23, 2020] The School of Good Citizenship is an expansive 6-day series of cultural events occurring from June through October in Charlotte: spoken word poetry, visual art exhibitions, public art, film screenings, panels and artist workshops aimed at sparking a public conversation about democracy and whose voice gets heard.
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Truth Be Told DC: Public Art on the National Mall
[Washington, D.C., September 22, 2018, 11 AM] Truth melting on the National Mall was the centerpiece for three days of events Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese organized the weekend of September 21-23. On Friday, September 21, over a dozen celebrated D.C. poets and writers inaugurated the artists' project with a poetry reading at Busboys and Poets. The ice installation disappeared in front of the Capitol in just over 8 hours the following day .
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The American Dream Project
[Cleveland, Ohio, July 19, 2016 & Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016] Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese installed two 4,000-pound sculptures carved in ice that spelt out the words The American Dream at the Republican and Democratic Conventions. The sculptures melted away during the day focusing on the erosion of opportunity and equality for all.
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Dawn of the Anthropocene
[New York City, September 21, 2014] During the Peoples' Climate March, LigoranoReese installed the words The Future carved in ice in front of the Flatiron building to dramatize the impact of global warming. Thousands of bystanders witnessed the sculpture disappear vanishing in less than 13 hours.
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Morning in America
[Tampa, FL and Charlotte, NC, 2012] LigoranoReese braved Hurricane Isaac on the eve of the Republican Convention in Tampa and torrential downpours in Charlotte during the Democratic Convention. Installing the words Middle Class in city parks, the artists were met in Tampa by Dogs Against Romney, squads of police and Service Employees International Union members and the Occupy Charlotte Movement in North Carolina.
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Main Street Meltdown
[Foley Square, New York City, 2008] On the 79th anniversary of the Great Depression, two weeks after investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, LigoranoReese installed the word Economy at the mouth of Wall Street, symbolizing a collapsing economy and mounting anxiety in the midst of the financial industry's downturn.
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The State of Things
[Denver, CO, Saint Paul, MN, 2008] With the 2008 conventions in Denver and Saint Paul LigoranoReese launched the series of works that have become Melted Away. With each successive installation the artists expand and perfect the processes for creating them: filming the sculptures from start to finish, still photography, engaging and interviewing the public, and live streaming. The goal has always been to make sculpture a performative act and to broaden the message and reach through various media and communication networks.
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