Refractions of Ice in the iconic Library Hall of the Round Tower June 26th – September 20th, 2026

In Refractions of Ice, art and science meet in a visual exploration of the deep ice. Under polarized light, the ice’s crystals emerge in surprising patterns, revealing a poetic language of colors, shapes, and movements. These crystalline structures hold traces of past climates and hint at transformations yet to come.

The exhibition presents macro-optical film recordings of ice crystals from millennia-old ice cores, extracted from three kilometers beneath the Greenlandic ice sheet. Through a scientific and visual investigation of the crystals’ micro-movements and melting processes, the work invites the audience into the deep narratives of ice, where vibrant crystal formations become images of the planet’s continual change.

Video and sound translate ice core research into a sensory experience, where the encounter between science and aesthetics creates a visual space for reflection on nature’s transformations and humanity’s place within them, in a time marked by climatic and existential shifts.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Follow the process from the art-science collaboration between Visual Science Studio and the researchers at Niels Bohr Institute through the images below.