Ron Fassbender

An acrobat atop a 2.7 tonne block of melting ice during a performance of THAW. © Ron Fassbender

London, UK. 24-25th August, 2024. An acrobat performs atop a 2.7 tonne block of melting ice suspended over Royal Albert Dock, opposite London City Airport, during an eight hour performance of 'THAW', part of the annual Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF). Created by Joshua Thomson and performed by Australian theatre company Legs On The Wall, the piece is described as an urgent call to act on climate change with a message that "there's no time to waste". The event occurred within days of the announcement of the expansion of the airport, in contradiction to advice from the UK’s Government’s own Climate Change Committee.

Two days after the performance the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tweeted that "all reference glaciers lost mass in 2023" and that "Antarctica sea ice set record lows throughout 2023". -RF

© Ron Fassbender