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Sea-Ice Lifeboat |
| all images © Susan Robb |
Project Sea-Ice Lifeboat
Project Sea-Ice Lifeboat / Carberg (Still from 3D schematic). Epson archival print. 6' x 3.5'
Project Sea-Ice Life Boat is a monument underscoring the disastrous effects of global warming. It is a poetic and far-fetched but calculated and potentially far-reaching attempt to rescue polar bears while simultaneously forming a complex expression about personal and corporate involvement in climate crisis.
This work will take the form of three large-scale sea-ice "rafts" made from recycled oil drums in the shape of SUVs while still bearing the recognizable terrain contours of floating ice. The sea-ice rafts will float off the coast of Seattle in the Puget Sound, in the English Bay in Vancouver, BC, and in the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, before being transported to Barrow, Alaska, where they will float for some time in the Chukchi Sea where sea-ice is melting most rapidly.
If environmental conditions improve, this artificial sea-ice will accumulate real ice and snow, covering up the SUV form and acting as a seed for what could be a permanent polar bear habitat unaffected by climate change. If conditions don't improve, the faux sea-ice will truly be a life raft, an arctic sponsor ship for climate catastrophe.
To view a prototype of the lifeboats please visit Sudo Island in Second Life www.secondlife.com.
For more information about climate change and sea-ice please visit http://seaice.apl.washington.edu.
For more information about Project Sea-Ice Life Boat please contact susan@susanrobb.com.