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Standing roughly 20' high and comprised primarily of canvas and salvaged wood, The Ice Knife was designed to function as a vertical stage for two states of temperature. The first was extreme cold, which was made visible externally, as a coating of gravity and wind shaped icicles. The second was to be extreme heat, occuring internally from the ignition of the structure's wood and canvas armature, primed by thermite and observable as gravity-defying flame and smoke.
Although a thick shell of ice was possible to realize, owing to the presence of lake water and the opportunity to build the structure (see "Ice Shanty Project" elsewhere on this site), the burning of the Ice Knife was deemed too great a risk to the sculpture event as a whole.

Sculptor

Portrait of Stephen Rife
Our House
Underground
The Serpent's Egg
Demonstration w/non-dairy creamer
The Anxious Substrate
Demonstration with Ladder and Flammable Dust
Lantern
Performance w/handheld mortar
Firebreathing
Fire Vortex Prototype
Demonstration w/Plant Matter & Lawn Tools
Song of Late Summer
Fireshovel
Fireshovel (detail)
Ritual Burning of Fireshovel Comments
Gravedance (prep)
Gravedance
Secrets of the Nest
Firebag prototype
To Burn, Not Bury
New Year's Gate
The Battle for St. Paul
Raindial
Firebag Demonstration w/Gerb
Firedance prep.
Firedance
Firedance (spinning)
The Book of Life
Fire display w/paraffin, paper & welding gas
Horseplay
New Year's Eve Lampshade
Offering to Stromboli
Autumn Fire Rite with Pinedust
Autumn Fire Rite with Pinedust
Firefilm
Fireball
Fireball (detail)
Wax Paper Juggling
Demonstration with Steel Wool and Headpiece
Firebasket Demonstration
Firebasket Detail
Firebox Demonstration
Street performance w/firecans & mower
FIRE WALL AND WATER BASIN (jury selection)
Smoking Word
Smoking Word (participants)
The Tree of Light
Flint Dance
Fire Shovel
Sunflower (test)
Flame Relay in Cracks
The Ice Knife
The Ice Knife (detail)
The Darshanty
Thanksgiving Prelude
Launch
Carbonera
Smell Piece
Entry
Partial Document of Performance
Monofilm (installation before ignition)
Monofilm (fire stage)
Roman Signer Tribute
David
Streetlamp
Reprise: Signer's Suitcase
Yves Klein Tribute: Return of the Sun
Projection