fadin' to whiteout

24.11.2005 Swarovski Kristallwelten Wattens

This winter, the Swarovski Kristallwelten cabinet of curiosities will have a very special annex. In a white cube in front of the Giant a polar phenomenon, known as whiteout, will be staged – equal reflections of snow and clouds cause contours to dissolve. The idea for this installation came from one of the winning projects in the student competition “Arctic”, which Swarovski held this spring at the TU Innsbruck, Institute for Experimental Studies in Architecture. The project fadin’to whiteout was inspired by a lecture given by the Icelandic artist Ólafur Elíasson during the competition, as part of his jury membership. From November 25th, 2005, visitors of the Kristallwelten can take a trip into the multi-layered world of perception of the whiteout phenomenon.

What is the world?

Three friends were curious to find out how big the world is and what shape it has. In the end they were so curious that they decided to go out on an expedition. They travelled for three days and three nights and then they came to a big igloo. “Let’s go in”, one of them said. And so they did, but they saw straight away that this house had no end. So they walked along the wall so that they would not get lost. But where was the way out? They kept walking – for days, for months, for years. Finally, they broke down out of sheer exhaustion and crawled ahead. Two of the friends gave up, sat down and died. But the third one managed to find the way out. His kayak was just where he had left it. But by the time he got back to his people he had grown ancient. He said to the people: “The world is just a giant igloo.” And then he died.
Folktale from Greenland

Press Release (PDF)