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For Immediate Release – September 19, 2014
Dawn of the Anthopocene
Artists LigoranoReese Melt The Future
10 AM • 9.21.14
At 10 AM on Sunday, September 21, 2014, artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese unveil 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. Their 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.
The artists plan forThe Future, measuring 21 feet wide and 5 feet tall, to melt away. They photograph and film the installation’s disappearance streaming it on the internet in real-time. [See the live stream here.] According to Nora Ligorano, “This event is 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.”
The artists are 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,” Marshall Reese says. “Ice is the perfect material for bringing awareness of what that kind of change means.”
This project follows earlier ice projects by the artists, which they call “temporary monuments.”In 2008, the artists installed ice sculptures of the words Democracy at the political conventions, Economy on the 79thanniversary of the Great Depression, and Middle Class in 2012 in Charlotte and Tampa. [World Policy Institute article.] These ice sculptures materially underscore the impact of political and social ideas that often escape the public’s attention.
This project has been selected for the 2014 Human Impacts Institute’s Creative Climate Awards and is sponsored by 350.org and the Human Impacts Institute.
Streaming provided by livestream.
Tweeting @melted_away, #ligoranoreese, #publicart, #PeoplesClimate, #globalwarming, #Sept21, #350
LIGORANOREESE
Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese have collaborated as LigoranoReese since the early 80’s. Their artwork examines contemporary trends in society and the media through the manipulation of images and sound from print, television, the Internet, and radio. They recently participated in the First Biennial of Contemporary Art, Cartegena, Columbia in 2014. Their installations, limited edition multiples and artists books have been exhibited at Catharine Clark Gallery, Kent Fine Art, the Beall Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Portland Art Museum, Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (MAK) in Frankfurt, Germany, MIT MediaLab, Museum of Arts & Design, the New York Public Library, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, the Neuberger Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center. They have received fellowships and funding from the Jerome Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, NYFA, NYSCA, the NEA, Art Matters and have been artists in residence at the MacDowell Colony, Montalvo Arts Center, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program. They are represented by Catharine Clark Gallery.
