I was just forwarded a link to an interesting newspaper article and thought I'd share the photos. Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo carved a thousand miniature people out of ice and placed them on the steps of Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt in the heat of the day. The installation was organized to spotlight the World Wildlife Fund's warning about melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, and with temperatures running around 23 deg C., it didn't take long for the effects to begin. The installation lasts as long as the ice does, with all that's left being the observer's photographs and memories.
Interestingly, Azevedo does not really consider herself a climate activist. Her original intent was based on a critical view of official historical monuments such that the memory is not reserved to great heroes or great monuments but is inscribed in the photographic image of the melting piece and shared by everyone. Despite that fact, she believes art is open to reading and interpretation and is pleased that her "Melting Men" installation can speak of urgent matters that threaten the existence of our planet.
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