If you wonder what contemporary political art might look like, have a look at this:

Antti Laitinen, Growler, 2009 video still

… I tried to make a small iceberg, so throughout the winter I stored 7 cubic meters of snow inside a big styrofoam box. When the summer came, I took the snow out and brought it to the sea …

*

Antti Laitinen’s small iceberg – Growler – can be read as a simple and poetic statement. The work is visually very pleasing, a beautiful tragicomic absurd happening, the political aspect is in no way compromising the aesthetic form of the work.

Warmer seas lead to melting from below of polar ice shelves, compromising their structural integrity and leading to spectacular shelf collapses. Scientists worry that warmer water could interrupt the so-called ocean conveyor belt, the system of global currents that is largely responsible for regulating Earth’s temperature. Its collapse could trigger catastrophically rapid climate changes.

* Antti Laitinen has been selected to represent Finland at the 2013 Venice Pavilion.