"Sublimation" Melts John Harvard

With the reputation as the third most photographed statue in the United States, thousands of visitors and tourists rub the shoe of the John Harvard statue for luck and pose for pictures in front of the stoically seated figure. On April 29, 2016, the John Harvard statue melted. As part of 2016 ARTS FIRST festival, an installation made entirely of ice was set in front of Grey Hall in Harvard Yard. Sublimation, which resembles stylized cross-sections of the John Harvard statue (also in the Yard), melted in full view of the public and via an online live stream over the course of the day. The Ice Sculpture approaches the idea of monuments critically: Does it have to be physical? Can it be ephemeral? Can it live in different states of time and place? Sublimation aimed to start a public conversation around the meaning of monuments for the contemporary audience and asks them: What is the role of a monument today and what do we make of the old amidst the shifting ideologies and changing times?