A large-scale projection by Turkish artist Refik Anadol showing the disappearance of glaciers around the world will be presented on the facade of Theater Basel this week (daily until June 18). “The idea is to draw attention to glaciers, which are the most inspiring but fragile phenomenon,” says Anadol.
Previous iterations of the publicly available work, called glacier dreams (2023), were unveiled earlier this year at Dubai Art Fair and at the i Light Singapore festival; the next part is set to premiere at Serpentine in London later this year (November-February 2024).
“The London show will be the conclusion, showcasing the behind-the-scenes process and the datasets used [to create the work]; different glaciers will unfold in the show, from Patagonia to Greenland. [Serpentine artistic director] Hans Ulrich Obrist helped us fine-tune the work,” says Anadol from Istanbul.
The artist used algorithms to create the simulation, processing over 100 million images from online and institutional archives; he also drew on his own collection of images collected in Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica. “The piece took four years to research; we have worked with institutions such as the Icelandic Space Agency,” he says.
Some of the work is also generated by artificial intelligence (AI). “We used an AI model and came up with an inspiring fragrance formula, evoking the scent of fresh water after a glacier melts,” says Anadol.
He adds: “At the end of the project, we believe that our AI model can build many types of glaciers, for example, in Iceland there are 269 glaciers. We also looked for climate data; it will be a scientific tool that can be used by researchers.
glacier dreams was commissioned by Swiss private bank Julius Baer as part of its arts, science and technology initiative, Next.
