Photo Galleries & Slideshows
Check out FREEZE photo galleries and links (updated 3/4/09). See photos from the December beach party, New Year’s Eve party, construction of the installations, artist presentations, public opening, thawing and closing dance performance.
What is FREEZE?
It was a celebration of Alaska and life in the North. It was a January slate filled with events. It was a bold series of outdoor installations along the Park Strip. It was a gathering of of artists, architects and designers committed to perpetuating the Northern spirit. It was hot. It was cool. It was FREEZE.
Throughout January 2009, FREEZE offered events — lectures, workshops, exhibitions, performances and activities for families — that were related to life in the north. We took a look at how we can stay warm, healthy and active throughout the year. Learn more about this celebration of art, architecture and the north.
FREEZE Supporters
FREEZE would like to thank these contributors.
One of a mass of glowing heads in Masque, by Mike Mense and Sheila Wyne, on the morning of the public opening.
Thank You
FREEZE has been a celebration of Alaska and life in the North. In January 2009, artists, architects and designers from Alaska and around the world came together to create large-scale outdoor installations in downtown Anchorage using snow, ice and light—distinctly northern elements. While participants were organized, into “teams”, this was not a competition, but rather collaboration between individuals and disciplines and a sharing of ideas and perspectives.
In temperatures that were some of the lowest on record, these artists battled the subarctic extremes, becoming scientists, inventors, engineers and constructors, creating fourteen unique and temporal experiences that invited interaction through movement, sight and sound. While thousands of visitors walked between, crawled on and circled through the installations, within a week of the public opening, the temperatures had shifted and FREEZE began to melt. Snow changed color, ice became transparent, and some visions slipped away. The impermanence of the works parallels the fleeting, ephemeral qualities of winter, the uncontrollability of nature, and the vulnerability of things. Yet memory is indelible; it is unlikely that those who witnessed the grand gesture will soon forget the experience, no matter how temporary.
We would like to thank all of the participating artists, all of the lecturers and presenters for the public programs, the sponsors, Davis Constructors and Mass X and all of the many, many volunteers and people who helped to make this project possible.
FREEZE will continue as we develop a catalogue for the project and contemplate in what form FREEZE returns in future winters to explore more ideas, other climactic swings, and new approaches to life in the north.
- Julie Decker, Project Director
