land, the air, the people and my idea of
a green furniture life cycle. The Terrace
shoreline became a place for enjoying winter
fun and for learning. Responding to changes
in the weather, the furniture would melt
back into the lake and become a part of the
water body again. Its beautiful green life
cycle would be completed. I hoped the cli-
mate furniture would increase awareness
that we can make a sustainable world with
less, or without negative, impact.
As global warming is melting the polar
ice, the world has no way to escape the im-
pact. Several visitors told me that Madison’s
winter has become warmer and less predict-
able in recent decades. The ice furniture
melted earlier than I expected: the whole
life cycle was finished in early February.
However, visitors continued to come look
at the ruin, and some of them tried to repair
or rebuild the pieces. But the winter was
leaving earlier; the furniture reacted to the
warmer temperature.
This past summer, documentation of the
ice furniture life cycle was displayed on the
Terrace, and it still interested many people
along the lake shoreline. Some of the kids
asked, “ Where is the ice furniture?” 1 said,
“They are back home and everywhere in
the lake. They have completed their green
life cycle and are now preparing for the
next generation.”
This winter, another tortuous ice furni-
ture set w ill be built, more “ melting look-
ing,” and certainly it could melt earlier than
last year. This would remind people of the
project last year as well as the increasingly
severe environmental issues. The set may
look like dancing furniture. Maybe it is the
last dance of the current industrial world,
or of human civilization, if we do not change
the way we live.
Hnngtao Z h o u (pronounced hom e-tall-joe),
who holds degrees in fu rn itu re design a n d wood
science from N ortheast Forestry U niversity in
C h i rut and a P h .D . in fu rn itu re design and
m anufacturing from Purdue University in In d i-
ana, is currently an M .F.A. candidate in sculp-
ture/furniture design a t the U niversity o f ll'is -
consin-M adison. H e is a curator fo r green
fu rn itu re design a t the Chipstone Foundation
a n d M ilw a u kee A r t M useum , a n d among
h is other experiences he w as captain a n d
C EO
o f an ice and snow sculpture team in China.
+
hongtao.zhou.com
Opposite:
The ice furniture set
completed on Lake
Mendota, near Memorial
Union Terrace at the
University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Right, top to bottom:
Responding to changes
in the weather, the ice
furniture melted back
into the lake and the
green life cycle was com-
pleted; the shoreline
in spring and summer.
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