BROOKLYN, NY.- The Distance Between What We Have and What We Want (Arctic Ice Project) by Tavares Strachan goes on view today at the Brooklyn Museum. In 2005, Tavares Strachan journeyed to the Alaskan Arctic and worked with a skilled team to extract a single two-and-a-half ton piece of ice from a frozen river. This ice block was shipped to the Bahamas (the artist's birthplace) and exhibited there in hot summer weather, kept cold in a specially designed freezer powered by solar energy. The very same block of ice and cooling system are now on view outside of the Museum's south entrance.

While on view, the ice is placed inside a specially-designed glass freezer, which derives its power from a solar energy system. In effect, the power from the sun keeps this remnant from the Arctic intact.

This work touches on many different issues. Environmentally, it relates to global warming and the recent recognition (or denial) of current and potential climactic changes. Geographically and culturally, the work references multiple levels of displacement that draw on human experience. A small installation of photographs in the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Lobby accompanies this presentation.