13/02/2023
: Vatnasafn - Library of Water
"Vatnasafn - Library of Water" is a project by American artist Roni Horn, produced and realized by ARTANGEL. Located atop a hill overlooking the Breidafjordur fjord on the west coast of Iceland, the project - housed in the former library of Stykkisholmur - displays 24 large samples of water collected from 24 Icelandic glaciers. Tall transparent glass columns resembling giant vials are filled with water, ranging in color from crystal clear to murky and opaque. This peculiar museum also collects English and Icelandic words used to describe the weather, which have been inscribed on the library's floor. Since the project's inauguration in 2007, one of the 24 Icelandic glaciers has disappeared, conferring a ominous role to this museum that seems to be devoted to the preservation of both geological time and fleeting ephemerality.
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Images: Roni Horn's Library of Water (2007). [1, 4] Photograph: Roni Horn [2, 5] Photograph: Stefan Altenburger. All images courtesy of Artangel