Sydney Festival’s gravity-defying artwork to perform disappearing act

Suspended above Sydney Harbour is a breathtaking piece of performance art designed to melt — but even its creator has no clue how long it’ll survive.

After more than two years of planning, a 2.7 tonne, intricately sculpted block of ice has been suspended 20m above Sydney Harbour in an impressive performance art piece.

For three days, three aerialists will perform in relay atop the ice, negotiating with the slippery stage as it melts in the summer heat.

Performer Victoria Hunt atop the Thaw sculpture for the Sydney Festival. Picture: Don Arnold

The Sydney Festival performance piece, titled Thaw, is the product of 2019’s black summer bushfires, which claimed more than 30 lives and millions of animals, leaving Legs on the Wall artistic director Joshua Thomson feeling hopeless about the future of the climate.

“Seeing the animals burnt and hurt, I felt really sad and powerless as an individual and that sat with me for a little while,” he said.

“I thought about what I could do to help in this situation, but it’s not easy to get on the hose and fight these fires in reality.”

Several aerial artists will take to the gravity-defying ice stage. Picture: Don Arnold

So he harnessed his creativity, and began planning Thaw — a performance that would demonstrate something disappearing and eroding.

“I wanted an opposition to fire, something that would disappear on its own,” he said.

“A lot of people associate it with glaciers but the initial idea was around the natural world, and how it is disappearing.”

Thaw creator Joshua Thomson has no idea how long his installation will survive. Picture: Don Arnold

A crane positioned on the Sydney Opera House’s western boardwalk will suspend the iceberg over the harbour each morning, as it shrinks in the city’s weather conditions. How long that will take however, is the million dollar question.

“The ice is ever changing and while it’s heavy it’s got a real fragility to it which makes this so exciting,” Mr Thomson said.

His hope for the piece is that people will not only be wowed by the display, but consider their role in the preservation of the environment.

“I wanted to make a spectacle,” he said.

“I hope people not only find themselves entertained but engaged from the perspective of action, and what they could bring to the conversations around the climate and environment.”

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