The Manchester Museum Ice Bear
On Thurs 31 Mar 2011, The Manchester Museum Ice Bear made an appearance in Piccadilly Gardens. Ice sculptor Mark Coreth and his team of three sculptors spent six hours carving a four metre long, 2.2 metre high, 10 tonne block of ice into the shape of a life-size polar bear. Over the following few days the bear melted, speeded up by the hands of the many passers by who touched it, to show the effects of climate change and the way human activity is speeding this process up.
The Ice Bear celebrated the launch of our Living Worlds gallery which explores the connections between all living things, including us, and shows how we can all shape the future by the choices we make.
You can see some of the photos of the Ice Bear - the sculpting, melting and revealed skeleton - on the Museum's Flickr pages, watch an interview with sculptor Mark Coreth on the Museum's YouTube channel and watch a piece about the Ice Bear on BBC Northwest Tonight on YouTube
We would like to thank the Ice Bear Project, CityCo and The Portland by Thistle hotel for their help with the Ice Bear.
