SURface

2024, ice, site specific work 

SURface consists of heavy, letter-shaped blocks of ice installed at low tide, precisely halfway between the lowest point of the ebb tide and the highest point reached by the rising tide. There, the ice letters are left to melt. Depending on external factors such as time, temperature, and salinity, they may or may not be carried away by the sea.

The work reflects on humanity’s fundamental inability to control nature and life. Yet humans persist in attempting to dominate and manipulate their environment. At the same time, the melting ice and the advancing tide subtly evoke the reality of rising sea levels and the growing impact of climate change. Exactly when the incoming tide will reach the letters remains uncertain, but they will inevitably melt and dissolve into the sea: from water into ice, and from ice back into water.

Within the artist’s oeuvre, time functions as a relative concept. The viewer is surrendered to the moment, without control over the image as it gradually disappears. In this way, the artist responds to the overwhelming speed at which we are confronted daily with a relentless flow of images through social media and contemporary technologies.