The Studio Olafur Eliasson unveiled a permanent installation on the summit of the Grawand, on the Hochjochferner glacier in the Italian Alps. Inaugurated this fall, Our glacial perspective is an installation designed to resemble a large-scale astronomical instrument, inviting visitors to perceive global warming from a broader perspective.

The artwork begins with a path that leads along the glacial ridge of the mountain. The gates are spaced at intervals that correspond to the scale of the duration of the Earth’s ice ages, marking “a profound chronology of our planet, ice and the environment,” explains a statement from the workshop. At the end of the path is a pavilion made of multiple rings of steel and glass containing a circular bridge over the edge of Mount Grawand. Visitors can use the pavilion to align their gaze with the surrounding rings, which follow the apparent path of the sun in the sky on any given day. This is one way to invite visitors to adopt the glacier’s perspective on global warming and to interact with the environment in a sensitive and real way.