The "Snow Show"

Piece by Morphosis + Do-Ho Suh at the ''The Snow Show" .''

By ALAN RIDING

Published: February 29, 2004

OVANIEMI, Finland

There is not much to do in Finland's Lapland in winter. Kemi, a port city at the northern end of the frozen Gulf of Bothnia, has a Snow Castle that includes a hotel where tourists can sleep on slabs of ice; 90 miles to the north on the frozen River Ounasjoki, Rovaniemi is gateway to Santa Claus Village, where letters can be mailed to the old benefactor in his hideaway on the North Pole.

"In summer, we fish and make love," one Laplander deadpanned. "In winter, we fish less."

But an unusual outdoor art exhibition called "The Snow Show" has briefly added Kemi and Rovaniemi to the circuit of destinations for adventurous art tourists eager to brave subzero temperatures. Earlier this month, mysterious multicolored sculptures of snow and ice began rising from the frozen landscape. Then, as natural and transient as their setting, the works of art will begin to melt and be gone by early April.

For the next four weeks or so, though, they should stand proud. They come in all shapes and sizes, some abstract, some figurative, but the key variable is their material. Those made of snow are interesting mainly for their geometric forms because, at least from afar, packed snow looks as ordinary as white concrete. Happily, most works have used ice, which exudes an effortless translucent beauty, at times radiating a soft pale green, at other times evoking a shattered window pane.

Yet even when the outcome is less than successful, there is something fresh, almost naïve, about many sculptures. One reason, no doubt, is that in each case a leading artist was twinned with a celebrated architect to create a specific work, prompting a fair amount of brainstorming. But another is that most participants were trying their hand with an unfamiliar medium. In fact, apart from, say, ice mermaids on cruise ship buffet tables or the round forms of Kemi's Snow Castle, making art with snow and ice has almost no track record.

While the art is ephemeral, the show's organizers are after more permanent results. The Finnish government and tourist officials who are managing "The Snow Show" see it as a novel way of publicizing winter travel to the edge of the Arctic Circle. To cover the cost of the event, the organizers found government and commercial sponsors willing to contribute roughly $1 million. They are now counting on at least 25,000 paying visitors (a ticket to one site costs $6.25, to both sites $10).

On the other hand, Lance Fung, the New York art dealer who came up with the idea and was hired as the show's chief curator, would like a more original legacy. Already, he believes the show has spawned technical and artistic breakthroughs in what can be done with snow and ice. But more daringly, he hopes to demonstrate that artists and architects can work together in an environment, on a scale and with a material alien to most of them. (snippage)

Comments

[Carlos Canto]

Amazing place, the exhibition was incredible. Huge sculptures made out of snow and ice, never seemed by my eyes before. The most beautiful thing was when the sun was setting and colouring with a golden light the whole environment in a delightful landscape. At night, norhtern lights appearing constantly, like a dance of angels.

[Cyn]

Too bad. It looks like an incredible place.

[lakkris]

i wanted to so badly to make it to Lapland when we were in Finland. It was just so far north from where we were staying and it wasn't frozen which is truly when we want to go to lapland.