Event: Peoples’ Climate March, New York City, 2014
The title Dawn of the Anthropocene comes from Nobel prize scientist Paul Crutzen’s term for the increasing power of humanity on the Earth’s systems. In his and other scientists’ view, the world has entered an age where the impact of humans is as great, if not greater, than nature’s.
The sculpture of The Future weighing 2,500 pounds lasted 13 hours before disappearing. As the distant future collapsed into the present, the disquiet grew – climate change endangers not just other life forms and the future of civilization, but that the very planet is in the midst of evaporating away.
WHEN
September 21, 2014 at 10 AM
WHERE
Intersection of Broadway and 23rd Streets at Flat Iron North Plaza in New York City
WHAT
High Impact Visuals. Public Art, a temporary monument in 4000 lbs of ice to underscore the necessity for immediate action to confront global warming.
Artist Statement
Overview
How We Approached
The artists planned for The Future, measuring 21 feet wide and 5 feet tall, to melt away. They photographed and filmed the installation’s disappearance streaming it on the internet in real-time. [See the live stream here.]
Dawn of the Anthropocene
The artists intend
for The American Dream, measuring 30 feet wide and 5 feet tall, to melt away. According to Ligorano, “Melting ice as a material is a perfect medium to show the disappearance of equality and opportunity. This is not specific to one party. Our country is in crisis. Our hopes is that these installations open up a space for making common ground.”
In Philadelphia, LigoranoReese have invited guest writers to be writers in residence during the event. They will be writing and blogging about seeing the American Dream disappear. A chorus of poets and writers flanking the sculpture will read from their texts and those of writers such as Claudia Rankine, Mike Davis, Charles Reznikoff on the state of America.
Dawn of the Anthropocene
Writer’s Residency: Posts
With Dawn of the Anthropocene, LigoranoReese started inviting writers to visit the meltdowns to write what they saw and felt. Their texts were uploaded in real-time as they wrote them to their website.
Todd Lester was residency manager; invitees included Charles Bernstein, Chantal Bilodeau Joshua Furst, Konstantin Prishep, Ryan Schlief, Mira Schor, James Sherry, Nikki Singleton, and John Weir.
Read Posts Here
Dawn of the Anthropocene
The 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
