Robotic Ice Carving Performance

Pinnannousu

In theory, any transparent material can refract light and form caustics. Though we most often work with “standard” materials like plexiglass and glass, we love to experiment with less usual ones. In a partnership with artist Jussi Ängeslevä, we worked on a public exhibition in Sapporo, in the cold region of Hokkaido, Japan, and experimented with shaping ice blocks.

In winter, the city of Sapporo is well known for hosting a snow festival where artists create intricate sculptures made of snow and ice. For the international art festival held in 2024, we used our algorithms to generate a 3D shape that would project the message “+2°C”, a reminder of the global warming maximum limit. As ice has a different index of refraction then glass, we had to tune the computation parameters to obtain a functional lens.

Starting with a big block of ice, specially made to be perfectly transparent, a robotic arm equipped with a drill follows the 3D shape of the pre-computed lens and carves it with high precision. This robot was customized and programmed by the Swiss studio AATB, which specializes in artistic performances involving industrial machines.

As the robotic arm finishes carving the ice, it moves away and shines a flashlight on the sculpted surface, projecting a large “+2°C” message on the wall behind. As the room temperature is slightly above zero, the ice slowly melts under the eyes of the visitors and the message of light gently warps and disappears, along with the entire ephemeral ice sculpture, reminding us of the urgency to limit global warming.

©Sapporo International Art Festival 2024, Photo by KUSUMI Erika