Phase 2

2018
Richardson Nature Center
Bloomington, Minnesota

On January 27, 2018 Futures North and the Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington, Minnesota presented Phase 2, a public artwork that creatively re-presented the effects of climate change with an engaging spatial construction of melting ice. Designed by public art collaborative Futures North, the ephemeral installation consists of ice harvested from Wood Duck Pond at the Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington, Minnesota during their annual Ice Harvesting Day. This ice faced a lattice of programmable infra-red lamps that fluctuate according to data derived from climate change research. The heat produced by the lights corresponds to historical and projected data and melt the sculpture according to three different scenarios: a pre-industrial simulation that depicts climatic conditions as if the industrial era never happened; the present day scenario; and the “worst case” scenario that demonstrates the effects of the most extreme climate change forecasts.

An earlier version of Phase 2 was presented at Northern Spark 2016 (as Phase Change) and was supported by Northern Lights.mn and the McKnight Foundation.

Project Credits
Client: Three Rivers Park District, Richardson Nature Center
Futures North: John Kim, Molly Reichert, Daniel Dean, Adam Marcus
Dunwoody College of Technology Welding: Tiara Hill
Documentation video: Vista Pop
Music: IE