Midsummer snowballs was made in 2000 by Andy Goldsworthy. This work was composed of relocation of 13 enormous 1-ton snowballs from Scotland to the streets of London in the middle of summer. The snowballs presented a unique confrontation between the landscape of wilderness and agriculture and that of the city.
Concealed within the snowballs Goldsworthy put “hidden treasures” that were gathered mainly from around his home in scotland such as: elderberries, ears of barley, wool, crow feathers, sinuous beech branches, chalk, river pebbles, and even rusting barbed wire and discarded chunks of agricultural machinery. Some of these treasures brought people back to the old London when it had a larger relation with the land which has since been lost with the adding of shops, streets and office towers.
The snowballs were put into the streets on June the 21st just after midnight. Goldsworthy supervised the unloading of 13 snowballs from refrigerated trucks where they had been sitting since they were taken from scotland. The snowballs took several days to melt and photographers worked around the clock to capture every moment of the melting snowballs. As the snowballs melted they revealed the hidden treasures. With some of the snowballs, the placement of them was more direct and referenced the past of that place. For example, he placed a snowball containing the hair of a Highland cattle beside the great meat market of Smithfield. He also placed a 14th snowball - which had Scottish red sandstone in it - into the Curve Gallery of London's Barbican Centre, the contents of which was left on the floor creating an amazing coloured drawing on the floor.
Many of Goldsworthy’s works include the main theme of time, this includes the Midsummer Snowballs. They started making the snowballs in the last two winters of the twentieth century and stored and then unwrapped to melt slowly in the first summer of the twentieth century.
The Midsummer snowballs is a very good idea and i think it was an excellent piece of work. I especially liked the idea of the hidden treasures inside the snowballs so over time the different aspects of the artwork are shown.
Concealed within the snowballs Goldsworthy put “hidden treasures” that were gathered mainly from around his home in scotland such as: elderberries, ears of barley, wool, crow feathers, sinuous beech branches, chalk, river pebbles, and even rusting barbed wire and discarded chunks of agricultural machinery. Some of these treasures brought people back to the old London when it had a larger relation with the land which has since been lost with the adding of shops, streets and office towers.
The snowballs were put into the streets on June the 21st just after midnight. Goldsworthy supervised the unloading of 13 snowballs from refrigerated trucks where they had been sitting since they were taken from scotland. The snowballs took several days to melt and photographers worked around the clock to capture every moment of the melting snowballs. As the snowballs melted they revealed the hidden treasures. With some of the snowballs, the placement of them was more direct and referenced the past of that place. For example, he placed a snowball containing the hair of a Highland cattle beside the great meat market of Smithfield. He also placed a 14th snowball - which had Scottish red sandstone in it - into the Curve Gallery of London's Barbican Centre, the contents of which was left on the floor creating an amazing coloured drawing on the floor.
Many of Goldsworthy’s works include the main theme of time, this includes the Midsummer Snowballs. They started making the snowballs in the last two winters of the twentieth century and stored and then unwrapped to melt slowly in the first summer of the twentieth century.
The Midsummer snowballs is a very good idea and i think it was an excellent piece of work. I especially liked the idea of the hidden treasures inside the snowballs so over time the different aspects of the artwork are shown.