A mountain ridge, nine steel arches, and a celestial sphere of metal rings and blue glass: Our Glacial Perspectives by Olafur Eliasson opens a view of the bigger picture—Earth’s evolution, climate changes, and their environmental consequences. At the same time, this location draws attention to the disappearance of our Alpine glaciers due to human-caused climate change.
Our glacial perspectives
The Installation
Our Glacial Perspectives is a work by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, commissioned in 2020 by the Talking Waters Society and installed at around 3,200 meters above sea level on the ridge from Grawand/Croda di Cornacchio to Graue Wand/Croda Grigia. It consists of a path through Earth’s ice ages and a celestial sphere made of steel and glass.
The Path
Earth has experienced four major ice ages; the fifth has lasted for 2.6 million years. Along a 410-meter trail, these eras—which are central to the Earth’s development—become tangible. The path leads through nine arches symbolizing the ice ages. The distances between arches convey a sense of the duration of each age and the interglacial warm periods.
The Celestial Sphere
At the end of the path at 3212 meters above sea level, visitors step into the present: a celestial sphere made of steel rings.
These rings are arranged to trace the sun’s path in the sky on solstices and equinoxes.
Other rings mark the horizon line, the north-south, and east-west axes. Each ring also has symmetrically arranged glass rectangles that allow one to tell the current time of day.
The Blue Tones
The glass plates attached to the steel rings appear in various shades of blue. They are inspired by the cyanometer, a scale developed in the late 18th century to measure the sky’s color intensity. The colored glass filters and reflects sunlight, creating a kind of mini-atmosphere.
The Meaning
Horizon, cardinal directions, solar movement, atmosphere, and the marking of ice ages—all point to the great interconnections of time and space, to the Earth’s development, its climate fluctuations and ice ages, and finally to today’s human-induced climate change and its effects on the alpine environment and retreating glaciers. Even the Hochjochferner/Vedretta del Giogo Alto at the foot of the installation is disintegrating.
The Commissioning Body
The installation was commissioned by the Talking Waters Society, now run by culturally and artistically engaged citizens of South Tyrol. The association’s goal is to stimulate reflection and dialogue on one of our most precious resources: water, in all its forms.