Some things only stay on this planet for a short time, while others last for longer than we‘d like to imagine. With his sculpture SNOWMAN, German artist Torsten Mühlbach addresses the global problem of garbage, that will still be here when we are not.

Mühlbach chose the snowman, a recurring motif in his work, to describe our finite life as human beings on this planet, both from a temporal and an environmental point of view.

The snowman has a relatively short, cultural history, dating back to the 19th century. And, naturally, it exists only for a short time (with the exception of a snowman, that was exhibited in a freezer by the Swiss artist-duo Fischli & Weiss. This exemplar lasted for as long as the freezer was connected to electricity) - just like us humans do, compared to other species that inhabit(ed) the planet.

Obviously, the sculpture SNOWMAN is not made of snow. High temperatures would not allow it. It was made out of garbage, which Mühlbach collected for just six days on the roadside and on various beaches of the island: mainly plastic garbage, drinking bottles, packaging materials, and garbage from metal, such as beverage cans.

Find Mühlbach’s SNOWMAN in the old ruin of Kakgatika.