Glacier marker/Jöklastika
Bronze sculpture
2013
On the 29th of March, 2013, I placed a sculpture in an isolated spot on Vatnajökull Glacier in Iceland and left it there.
The sculpture is a bronze reproduction of a "Glacier Marker". These markers were once used by the locals in the area to mark safe paths across the glacier. They were shaped in a manner which ensures that some part of the marker will always be visible from a distance despite being placed on an unstable and moving surface of a glacier. The original markers were made of wood. Bronze, the first metal to be worked by humans, is one of the most resilient and longest lasting materials known to man.
This sculpture will hold its shape for about 28,000 years. Most scientists agree that the glacier it stands on will be gone within 200 years.
As of 2019 the part of the glacier where the sculpture was standing has mostly melted and disappeared. The sculpture is probably resting at the bottom of a lagoon now.