Atlantica - Iceland Review

on the fly
Polar Bear Walks on Langjökull
By Alda Kravec
Photo By Christopher Lund
In November, a polar bear appeared at the base of Langjökull, Iceland’s
second largest glacier. Larger than life, it measured 80 by 50 meters and
could, in theory, be seen from space. Conceived by artist Bjargey Ólafsdóttir,
“Red Polar Bear” was a work of “creative activism” carried out as part of a global
art exhibition entitled 350 Earth, which aimed to raise awareness about climate
change on the eve of the UN Climate Change Conference that was held in
Cancún, Mexico.
While an enormous scarab holding a sun appeared in the desert outside
Cairo and two thousand people gathered in Brighton and Hove, England, to
form an image of the legend of King Knut trying in vain to control the seas,
Iceland’s contribution was similarly in step with its geography. The producer
of the polar bear project, Charlotte Ólöf Jónsdóttir Biering, had this fact to
share after speaking with Iceland’s leading glacier expert: “Glaciers in Iceland
are losing mass each year, and if temperatures rise as predicted, Langjökull will
melt to 15 percent of its current size by the end of the century. This will have
a significant impact on Iceland’s hydrological system, and melting glaciers
worldwide will contribute to a rise in sea level, putting people in coastal areas
and small islands at risk.”
The polar bear was created using organic red coloring, which was applied
only a couple millimeters deep into the snow. Biering underlines that the
environmental impact was minimal and temporary: “By the time the team
was leaving, the wind was blowing fresh snow over the bear, and after the
weekend it totally disappeared…but hopefully polar bears and glaciers will
still be around for generations.”
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