1. "Making of"- Documentary of the Ice Cave Project by Alex Goerlach:Music by www.nassforsch.com2. Photo Gallery:See marvellous impressions of the ice cave and photos of the making of at www.flickr.com/photos/clubofpioneers3. Q and A's:What is this Ice Cave Project about?The Ice Cave Project is a community art project. The community members can project their statements straight into an ice cave. The projection is being filmed and screened on the Internet via a live stream. The "canvas" for the projection is a 15 meter tall ice dome, inside the UNESCO World Heritage "Dachstein Ice Cave" in Austria.Why an ice cave?Most of the topics of the Club of Pioneers are centered on sustainability, climate change, and environment protection. Water itself has its own dynamic and symbolizes our dependence on natural resources. Because of global warming, all over the planet glaciers are melting. Someday even the ice cave of our project will be gone. We wanted to show the beauty of the ice cave and combine it with our community ideas on sustainable and mobile lifestyle.Did you really carry all the equipment up the mountain?Well … we did.What equipment exactly?There are lights, cable equipment, two computers, a projector. The largest piece is a climate box. In it we keep the electronic equipment. Otherwise it would freeze, and possibly rust and break.How did you bring the stuff into the Cave?We let the climate box down with ropes about twenty meters to the bottom of the ice cave. The rest was carried into the cave.How did you feel about the roping-down?We were happy when it was successfully completed.Where is this Cave?The cave is in Austria, in the Dachstein Mountains. It is part of the "Dachstein Höhlenwelt" ("World of Caves"), a series of caves that developed millions of years ago and is part of the UNESCO world heritage.How does the projection work?1) Community members write their statements – then they are sent to the Web server. Community members vote for the ones that they feel should be projected.2) The statement is sent to one of the Mac Minis inside the cave. This computer turns the statement into an animation movie. The movie is then projected and the camera films it.3) The video clip is compressed so it can be downstreamed via the Internet.4) The video stream is then displayed on the homepage of Club of Pioneers.5) The user gets to keep his or her own video statement.Do you have an effect on the ice with the installation?No. The installation follows the Natural Preservation Guidelines “Natura 2000” that are very strict on the matter. The lights are all without waste heat. The climate box produces the warmth of three human bodies inside the entire cave. For comparison: In summer when the ice cave is open to the public, 1500 visitors pass through the cave each day. Each tourist group has about 60 persons.What is the sound heard on the homepage?The sound is from inside the cave. It’s the sound from surface water that "rains" into the ice cave through the porous stone of the Dachstein mountain range. In winter and spring it freezes and makes the natural ice sculptures to grow.For how long will you have this projection?Until the end of March.Who are the artists?Concept: Alex Diehl, Marco Spies
Creative Technologists: Frederic Eyl, Richard The...and the members of the www.clubofpioneers.comWas it worth doing it?Definitely. Climbing up to the ice cave, speaking to people in Austria who care about their natural surroundings, working with what Nature itself has built through centuries was incredible and amazing. We are happy to show the Club of Pioneers community this marvelous ice cave. And the Pioneers have already started writing great statements - some of them are quite poetic.