northern sky circle

The molo studio collaborated with musician, Ethan Rose to build an ephemeral outdoor room from snow; a place for contemplation, gathering and a heightened sensory experience of the Northern winter sky.

With temperature’s plummeting to -30 Celsius, construction began in the pitch dark of New Year’s morning. The main challenge was improvising a construction method to work with the variable consistencies of snow, mixed with gravel and sand that had been ploughed from parking lots. The snow was piled loosely into formwork where it sintered into a solid mass. Playing with the formwork, using our bodies to back off or lean in, we were able to create a geology of formations and textures.

Once finished, entering the structure’s narrow opening; one felt the weight of its massive walls. The procession ahead was a mystery with only the curious clue of firewood, at the entrance. Winding deep into the passageway of snow you might be surprised by a child leaping overhead from one wall to the next and depending on the wind’s direction you began to smell the smoke of the wood fire or hear the sounds of Ethan’s delicately constructed music. At the end of the passage, walking up a set of stairs, you were faced with the openness of a circular room defined by stepped seating. Below, in the centre, a roaring fire and above, the northern sky.

Strangers coming and going through the sky circle shared big, uninhibited smiles. They were sharing a physically engaging experience, a rarity in urban public space. Just the right number of people felt inclined to carry a piece of firewood from the entrance through the long passage and into the central space. Once the fire was started, the public took ownership of it and kept it going 24 hours a day. After discovering that there was this sort of secret outdoor room in their city, many people returned, some with wine, food or friends. Impromptu storytelling sessions and food were shared around the fire and on one such occasion each person sitting in the circle took turns telling the story of what brought them to live under the northern sky.

About Ethan Rose’s sound piece:

Rose\’s sonic addition to the installation was a four channel sound piece composed from a mixture of environmental and instrumental sounds. To create this composition, he spent a week in Anchorage where he focused on creating a work that would rest at the centre of the installation. Rose began by gathering field recordings of snow falling from tree limbs, the creaking noises of tidal ice flows and the calling of winter birds. He also worked in a studio, recording icicles dripping onto a glockenspiel and playing with snow and ice to capture resulting textures. Rose allowed the recordings to guide his compositional decisions; combining and digitally manipulating sounds alongside effected autoharp, percussion and harmonica to create a piece that reflected and responded to the wintery Alaskan landscape.