Two new art suites just opened at ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi. The summer is in full bloom in Sweden, but inside it’s winter. At least at ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi that since December 2016 has a permanent part of ice and snow, which is open year-round and run on solar power.
The permanent part of Icehotel is filled with art created out of crystal clear Arctic ice, a contrast against the lush greenery outside. The hotel consists of an ice bar, an ice gallery and 20 ice suites, nine of them with private sauna and relax, individually created and hand-sculpted by artists from all over the world.
Two new art suites are being presented in the year-round part of ICEHOTEL. One of the new suites is a Deluxe Suite that has a private sauna and warm relax room. The suite is named “Lost & Found” and the design in the suite is accompanied by specially written music and sound by poet and musician Petri ”Bette” Tuominen.
The suite is a place for the guests to make an inner journey with the combination of ice design, sound, and light. Besides a bed, the luxurious suite features seats where the guests can sit down, focus on a sculpture and begin their inner journey.
– The visitor is guided into their own inner world with help by sound, music, and voices. The room, ice, and design is half the experience, while the other half is the sound and light that interact and take the guest on their own, individual journey, says Jens Thoms Ivarsson.
Jens Thoms Ivarsson has been working with ice art for more than 15 years and was previously Creative Director at ICEHOTEL. This time it was time to try something new – combining music, voices, sound, and design.
– It was a challenge to get sound, light, and design to interact, but we are incredibly pleased with the result. It will be interesting to hear what the guests think.
Magnificent columns
Sculptor and designer Javier Opazo from Chile created the other art suite. The suite is called ”Téckara”, which means number nine in Kunza (a language spoken in the Andes). The suite has its name because it holds nine pillars that show off the magnificent ceiling height.- I think the visitors are going to feel overwhelmed by the high columns that stretch all the way to the ceiling. It is a magnificent feeling and a ceiling height of 4,7 meters, says, Javier Opazo.
New sculpture exhibition
An art exhibition with another nine artworks of ice and snow was also completed during the weekend in the year-round part of Icehotel. The exhibition was created during an ice symposium with artists invited from the Swedish Sculptor Association, led by artist and sculptor Lena Kriström who has 25 years experience of ice sculpting.
– We are pleased to present two new art suites with impressive expression, feeling and design, parallel to opening a new art exhibition focusing on sculptures with both figurative and abstract art pieces. It shows the width from design to art that ICEHOTEL is offering the guests, says the Senior Advisor at ICEHOTEL Arne Bergh.
ICEHOTEL opened in 1989 and is beside a hotel also an art exhibition with ever-changing art out of ice and snow. ICEHOTEL is created in a new guise every winter, completely made out of natural ice from Torne River, one of Sweden’s national rivers and last untouched waters. When the winter season’s Icehotel has melted back into the river in the spring, a part of the hotel remains; a place where visitors can experience the ice and snow year-round.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- The hotel consists of an ice bar, an ice gallery and 20 ice suites, nine of them with private sauna and relax, individually created and hand-sculpted by artists from all over the world.
- The room, ice, and design is half the experience, while the other half is the sound and light that interact and take the guest on their own, individual journey, says Jens Thoms Ivarsson.
- The suite is a place for the guests to make an inner journey with the combination of ice design, sound, and light.
