Ice Watch

Ice Watch is a large-scale public installation by Olafur Eliasson, created in collaboration with geologist Minik Rosing. The work consists of massive blocks of glacial ice, harvested from the waters surrounding Greenland after calving from the ice sheet, transported and arranged in a clock-like circular formation in prominent urban plazas. First presented in Copenhagen's City Hall Square in October 2014 to coincide with the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report on climate change, the installation invited passersby to touch, watch, and listen as the ancient ice slowly melted away in real time.

The project was reprised in Paris in December 2015 during the COP21 climate summit, with twelve blocks placed outside the Panthéon, and again in London at Bankside outside Tate Modern in December 2018 ahead of COP24. Each iteration used approximately 80 to 110 tonnes of free-floating ice that would have melted into the ocean regardless. By placing fragments of a 10,000-year-old ice sheet on warm city streets, Eliasson transformed scientific data into a visceral sensory experience — the sound of cracking ice, the cold touch of a vanishing glacier, and the visible pooling of meltwater all served as an urgent, wordless plea for climate action.