Sulamaton musta (Lumiukko) / Unmelting Black (Snowman)

Gediminas Urbonas’ (b. 1966) piece ‘Unmelting Black’ (Snowman 1:1) was shown at the ARS 95 exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary Art. During ARS it was placed in front of the Ateneum building, which houses the Museum, standing in a queue with other museum visitors. Following the exhibition, the work was purchased by the City of Helsinki and placed in the Koulupuistikko park on Korkeavuorenkatu Urbonas studies our conceptions of the everyday surroundings. He extracts something from it, transmuting it into a sculpture to see what mythical dimensions it can attain in its modified state. One of these experiments is the weather resistant black granite snowman – Urbonas’ statement on the concept of ‘snowmanness’.

The work belongs to the collections of the Helsinki Art Museum.