ICE A public installation by Maxe Fisher

ICE A public installation by Maxe Fisher

September 5th 2004, Wellington Waterfront (near Barnett Street)

With ICE, Maxe Fisher has chosen to place a 1m3 ton of ice along the waterfront where fishing launches used to land their catch. It situates the work within the history of the fishing industry in Wellington while expressing a state of being in-between.

ICE references the constant invisible presence of the vapour state of water since Fisher’s arrival in Wellington, which moistens the condition of all things. The cubic metre of ice is constructed from the collected waters of her dehumidifier which are then frozen as a cultural symbol of her origins. The transitory nature of the ice signifies the disappearance of the meaning of place and draws attention to the mutation of memory through the transformation of the cube of ice as it slowly dissolves.

The apparent solidity and transparency of this cube inverses the sense of the transparent acrylic Art Box, which is in fact, empty. It is only walls. Intentional to this project is the inversion and deconstruction of the seemingly solid geometry of the Art Box into an object that is seemingly a mass, yet, is not. The cube as a form or container derived from minimalism reflects the concept of a cube as a space for art. Integral to the work is the performative element of the installation and conclusion of a single ton of ice through the temporal element of its natural and gradual transition from ice to water and vapour. As the cube gradually melts and reaches an appropriate dimension and weight, it will be pushed and shifted into the harbour waters, a place to arrival and departure, of coming and going.
- From the artist’s statement

ICE is a continuation of Maxe Fisher’s investigations in to the cube as a form of artistic expression. AU, a recent installation of a reflective industrial-gold glass cube in a public space in Montreal, referenced the gold mining history along the Cadillac Fault in eastern Canada. Maxe Fisher has exhibited throughout Quebec and Ontario and holds an MFA from Concordia University, Montreal, She currently lectures at Victoria University School of Design in Wellington.

Details and images will be updated at http://www.artbox.org.nz/ice.htm

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