Ice men ---- Nele Azevedo

Some people call it Melting men. I prefer to call it Ice men because I am more fascinated by the beauty of the ice men than the depression of the melting process. Or perhaps I am equally fascinated by both, just don't want to think or feel too much about the powerlessness of the quiescent withering.

These 1000 ice men were created by Brazilian installation artist Nele Azevedo, displayed in Berlin for WWFN (World Wide Fund for Nature) to show opposition to global warming. They were placed seated on the stairs side by side in the hot summer sun, waiting to melt.

The moment they were just put out with their beautiful curvilinear shape and dreamily translucent body, displayed in front of people's eyes I would imagine nobody could keep from feeling the sweetness created by such a large group of little cute figurines. At first, everything was happy. As time goes by, the summer heat increases; little humans started to melt until the last one disappears. The whole scene only lasted about half an hour. While people were watching, they were experiencing the feeling of despair and powerlessness; standing in the sun light, they too felt the strong heat.

This art piece smartly served it's purpose, invoking people to think, not just about the art itself, but also about themselves, their own lives, and how it will be affected by the increasing global warming phenomenon.

The artist has done some other installation works. But I don't find they are as nearly as interesting as the Ice men. Here are a couple more works I found.
The exercise of inhabiting the emptiness, 80-by-10-cm iron sculpture

Landscape Poem, window art