Your Submerged Spectator, 2021 – Olafur Eliasson

As if they were icebergs that have floated in the water and are now visible from below, seven blocks of ice hang from the ceiling of the tunnel that connects Kunsthaus Zürich's main building to the new extension. In reality, they are made of white marble and are based on the scans of pieces of ice that Eliasson and his team collected from the beach on the southern coast of Iceland, Diamond Beach. The pieces of ice break off the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and wash up on the beach, where they remain until they have melted away completely. The marble, a material that is primarily associated with permanence, preserves the form of ice that would otherwise disappear within hours. The seven blocks correspond to the seven days of the week.

Research:
Ice forms from Diamond Beach were 3D scanned before they melted. The scan data was cleaned and adapted for CNC milling in Carrara marble; the goal was to keep the visible surface detail of the original ice. The seven blocks were suspended from the tunnel ceiling; the suspension system and fixings were designed for the weight and distribution of each marble block and for the constraints of the Kunsthaus tunnel.