Circles by Jim Denevan | Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building

World’s Largest Artwork Created on Frozen Lake Baikal!

08/09/2010

Circles on Lake Baikal

The incredible concentric forms you see above are neither crop circles nor alien landings -- they are part and parcel of the world's largest artwork, which spans <b>nine square miles</b>! <a title="Jim Denevan" href="http://www.jimdenevan.com/">Jim Denevan</a>, who created the previous <a title="Circles etched in Sand" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1236380/Worlds-largest-artwork-etched-desert-sand.html">worlds-largest-artwork in the Nevada desert last year</a>, headed out to Siberia this year to draw these beautiful patterns on ice with a team of helpers and a broom. Denevan is known for creating expansive, meditative works with repetitive patterns and endless scale. Given that, <a title="Lake Baikal" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal">Lake Baikal</a> seems a pretty danged appropriate canvas -- it's the world's largest lake. And even when the harsh Siberian winds carried the resulting artwork to the clouds, the momentary grace of the work is stunning. Read on to learn more about this amazing artwork carved into the frozen tundra.

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Circles with human scale on Lake Baikal

A team of eight people committed to walking in circles for art, including a documentary filmmaker and a photographer. Given the ethereal nature of the piece, it's not surprising how important documentation is to the process.

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Circles on Lake Baikal

The team lived in a yurt in the center of the lake, building a fire on the lake bed every night (it would re-freeze every morning).

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Circles by Jim Denevan

<a title="Glacier Records" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inhabitat.com%2F2010%2F02%2F24%2Fice-records-play-the-songs-of-melting-glaciers%2F&ei=GdtgTI_IFJO4sQPTuNS3CA&usg=AFQjCNE496_YJ6AHypHuDH94ZvjvG0Dj8w&sig2=kXc7GDFO31-eoISMX-woYw">Ice</a> is one of the most <a title="Cold Weater Furniture" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CC8QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inhabitat.com%2F2009%2F02%2F14%2Feco-art-frozen-furniture%2F&ei=ONtgTPygDIK-sQOBqfCLCA&usg=AFQjCNE3-1s62HNc0awKTMUm2SoPf2Qtjg&sig2=Tn0xnayMPCj0BeMxJrgUkQ">potent artistic materials</a> of <a title="Cloud Project" href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/25/the-cloud-project-creates-ice-cream-clouds/">our modern age</a>.

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Circles on the surface of Lake Baikal

Though the artwork melted away in May, the experience is chronicled on <a title="The Ahthropologist" href="http://theanthropologist.net/#/Home">The Anthropologist</a>, a site for promoting new work by Anthropologie.

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Circles by Jim Denevan

The massive art installation stretches on for nine square miles.

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Jim Denevan Drawing

Yep. Anthropologie sent eight people to Siberia to draw circles.

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Circles on Lake Baikal

The incredible concentric forms you see above are neither crop circles nor alien landings -- they are part and parcel of the world's largest artwork, which spans nine square miles! Jim Denevan, who created the previous worlds-largest-artwork in the Nevada desert last year, headed out to Siberia this year to draw these beautiful patterns on ice with a team of helpers and a broom. Denevan is known for creating expansive, meditative works with repetitive patterns and endless scale. Given that, Lake Baikal seems a pretty danged appropriate canvas -- it's the world's largest lake. And even when the harsh Siberian winds carried the resulting artwork to the clouds, the momentary grace of the work is stunning. Read on to learn more about this amazing artwork carved into the frozen tundra.

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Circles on Lake Baikal