Kelly Nunes Studio
Glacier Cave
A permanent interactive installation commissioned by Age of Union for the Earth Centre.
Glaciers are massive, magical, and mysterious entities. Being in their presence you sense how ancient and powerful they are. Glaciers sometimes form caves inside, and these caves bear water in all of its various forms. We project wisdom and stoicism onto glaciers. Often having turned from water to ice tens of thousands of years ago, they are never still, always in some state of freezing or thawing, extending, or retracting. It resembles a living organism which is constantly morphing and changing, yet forever preserving a kind of historical record that dates back far in time. Imagine what stories a glacier could tell us.
The Glacier Cave is made of post consumer plastic water bottles. Sound and light and interaction design give the viewer the sense that they are in a glacier which is cracking, and thawing. The word glacier is quite charged today. It seems like we are constantly on the verge of losing another massive glacier to global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Visitors may feel the connection between this thawing glacier cave that they are sitting in, and the materials used to produce it, as being part of the catalyst for its degradation.
Montreal, 2021
Conception and Direction: Kelly Nunes
Commissioned by: Age of Union
Technical Direction: Mattieu Gagnon Lamarre
Lighting Design: Ghislain Brodeur
Touch Designer Developer: Owen Kirby
Sound Design, Mix Engineer: Phil Rochefort
3D Designer: Michael Carosello
Industrial Designer: Eric Villeneuve
Photography: Clara Lacasse