The Ice Saints
...They come on fixed days in May, but are still unpredictable.
Just when the plants are slowly recovering from winter
and the first buds and flowers are beginning to spark,
when they think they can emerge from their cover,
just then,
the Ice Saints simply rolled down the energy that has just built up again.
Details
Spatial installation
2017, in Burbach, Germany
Eight oil paintings
Eight metal boxes
Heating faucet
Dry ice
Process
The top of the radiator is cut open so it can be filled with dry ice.
Freezing the radiator significantly lowers the room temperature, while water slowly and irregularly drips from the faucet.
The resulting steam and cold create an foggy atmosphere that expands the idea of the work.
The handmade metal boxes are all different.
Their apparent similarity reflects the individuality of the portraits.
The metal boxes are filled with dry ice.
Then the portraits are mounted in the boxes.
The hanging demonstrates a similarity that is broken by the disparity of the boxes.
The white containers on the boxes are filled with water.
At their bottoms are holes to which threads are attached.
The water flows along the threads and is transformed by the dry ice into a steadily growing layer of ice.
The work is now left to itself.
It continues to freeze and thaw.
The process takes depending on the environment about ten hours.
Over the course of the exhibition, the oil paint cracks more and more, bubble-like, from the metal plate.
Depending on the painting technique and the duration of the exhibition, the paintings continue to disintegrate.
While some exhibit only small cracks, others are completely disintegrated by the dry ice.