People make all kinds of things out of ice, from sculptures to entire buildings. But the work of ice sculpturist Tim Linhart goes above and beyond visual beauty to create a truly incredible, multi-sensory experience. Linhart began making instruments out of ice over 30 years ago in the Arctic region of Luleå, Swedish Lapland. Over time, the scope of his vision has expanded by leaps and bounds. Today, you can go to one of his specially-designed ice concert halls and watch bands perform a wide array of music–entirely on instruments made of ice. But don’t just take our word for it; this is something you need to see (and hear) to believe. Watch Linhart explain his creative process in the National Geographic segment below:
The video features incredible footage of musicians performing with Linhart’s ice instruments–from guitars to violins to xylophones to drums and beyond. Linhart also explains how he approaches the challenge of maintaining and keeping the instruments tune during performances as natural heat sources inevitably begin to melt them.
As Linhart explains in a second video below (via Ice Music’s YouTube page), “There are so many places where it’s cold, and the winter is dark and long. We should be going outside and involving ourselves in the climate and the environment we live in. And this is a great way for people here to do that.” For that reason, he is committed to having a variety of different kinds of performances in his Swedish Ice Music palace. “We wanna have a wide variety of musical events so that there’s something fun and interesting for people to come and see, not just once but repeatedly. If you live [here], we hope this becomes a place you take your date.”
You can learn more about Tim Linhart and his incredible work here.
[Cover images via Ice Music’s website]