Climate change is one of the most urgent issues we face - as seen so clearly in the tragic recent flooding of Venice. But for many people, it remains an abstraction that is hard to grasp.
“Foundation and Empire” explores this issue by suspending $1,000 in a block of ice and recording a time lapse of the melting. The cotton and linen paper of the currency traps heat more efficiently than the surrounding ice, causing the money to have a direct, observable impact on its frozen surroundings - just as the impacts of climate change are most notable in the arctic. The more the cash becomes exposed and warms, the more it warps and dominates the ice, until the entire structure becomes unstable and collapses.
