Sculpture by the Sea and The Glue Society are both celebrating their 25-year anniversaries this year. What better way to celebrate than by bringing back their famous Hot with a Chance of a Late Storm, the melted ice-cream truck that is both the story of Sydney beach life and a comment on climate change?
The work was created in 2006 by The Glue Society and James Dive. The creative collective decided to create a piece of site-specific work for the coastal sculpture festival in Bondi.
Jonathan Kneebone explained, “As a company, we had started exploring the idea of using available funds from all our commercial work to invest in creating art, giving us the chance to create more self-initiated projects.
“One of the then Glue Society members, James Dive, came up with the brilliantly simple idea for Sculpture by the Sea of melting not just an ice cream, but the whole van. And it was then a passion project for us to realise the work, not just financially of course but also by connecting with suitably inventive creative practitioners to see the idea through to reality.”
The Glue Society worked with Steve and Vikki Rosewell and the constructors at Studio Kite, to design a 3d site-specific render and then build a life-size version of the van which would apparently drip off the walkway at Tamarama Beach.
To assist with transportation and construction, the work was made from 5 separate pieces, which could connect together like a 3D jigsaw puzzle – with the joins being camouflaged by the patterns that were hand-painted to create the melting effect. Something carried out by a brilliant sign-writer from Bondi.
The impact of the work was immediate and overwhelming. And for the first time the same artwork at the festival collected both the Public and the Kids’ Choice Awards.
The project was then displayed at the Paris Climate Conference as a symbol of the impacts of changing climate, appeared in global press and has since become a viral meme which rolls out whenever unseasonably hot weather arrives, all around the world.
Jonathan continued, “Being part of this year’s shared 25th anniversary celebration is certainly a wonderful chance to re-show the work which has been gifted back to The Glue Society following the passing of previous owner, Ken West – and of course reconnect with James.”
One major difference will be immediately apparent to those who recall it from its first outing. The work is now flat, since the work was adjusted to allow it to be displayed in galleries around Australia.
And this year, the team have also re-instated the ‘melting version’ of the song, Greensleeves. Something that may bring back memories for the locals of Tamarama who endured its haunting tones all those years ago, when the My Whippy truck roamed the streets.
But the artists hope that those who are seeing the work for the first time experience the same enjoyment of the work as it prompted back in 2006.
They say, “It remains a work which manages to make a serious point about climate in the most unexpected of ways – an unforgettable but also emotionally impactful work.”
The work has led to The Glue Society being featured at art exhibitions all around the world – from Hecho en Casa in Chile, to the London Design Festival and most recently to a unique commission for Ephemera in Townsville. (The ‘Fountain of Youth’).
In many ways their many and varied self-funded and initiated artistic projects have led The Glue Society to taking a lead role in the Earth’s Black Box project in Tasmania.
“A work which sets out to record the planet’s health/demise as its climate continues to change – holding all of us to account.” [earthsblackbox.com].
A SNIPPET OF AUSSIE CULTURE: Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi began in 1997 as a one-day exhibition run by volunteers working out of the Founding Director’s lounge room featuring works by 64 artists and attended by 25,000 visitors. It has been the world’s largest free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition for over two decades, exhibiting 2,691 sculptures by 1,129 artists from 51 countries. It is visited by up to half a million people each year.
This year’s event runs from October 20 – November 6.
[Images by Paul Bruty]
