WASHINGTON – Democracy literally melted away in D.C. on Wednesday after activists unveiled a 3,000-pound ice sculpture of the word by the U.S. Capitol, a statement on America’s weakened state of democracy under the Trump administration.
The 17-by-5-foot installation, titled “Last Call – DemocracyICED,” is plopped down on the National Mall for the day. It’s expected to slowly disappear over the span of 10 to 12 hours, as writers from D.C. and Baltimore take turns reading entries from historian Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” every half-hour until it’s gone.
There’s even a live feed if people want to watch, and organizers later plan to release a time lapse video of the sculpture melting into a puddle.
“It’s an homage to what is and what once was,” said Nora Ligorano, one of the artists behind the sculpture. She stood behind a small lectern set up by the installation as a few dozen people gathered around her, some involved with the project and others just passersby wondering what the big ice block was about.
“We have had to resurrect democracy four times up till now, but we’re not sure if we’re going to be able to resurrect it, exactly, today,” she said, referring to moments in recent history. The other three times, she said, were the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq, the Patriot Act and former President George W. Bush’s so-called war on terror.
