Yesterday's Snow (Schnee von gestern) 2002-2004

left: The Probjekte; photovoltaic panels on the neighbouring roof in Berlin
upper right: the snow man on the first day; lower right: exhibition site from outside: Berlin University of Applied Sciences


On January 31st 2003, this snow man was built in front of the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. It was warehoused in the foyer of the building on the same day. Afterwards the snow man survived one year exclusively on the radiation of the sun as solar panels covered the energy demand of the freezer. Its interior was held constant at -5°C (23°F). Three batteries supplied the energy during the nights and periods with little radiation. They were powered by the surplus that occurred at times with an intense radiation.

On January 31st 2004 the snow man 'celebrated' his one-year anniversary. Two days later it was brought back to where it came from: the campus of the University. It melted away in just a few hours.

"Yesterday's snow" (Schnee von gestern) is a German idiom for something outdated.

Though I wonder where they have the quotes from, the German news agency dpa released an English Press Report which summarizes the project quit well.

Release

Videos

Building the snowman: 31st January 2003 MPEG-File, 1:21 Min, 3,1MB

"Guided Tour" MPEG-File, 1:06 Min, 3,2MB

Television feature (German) 02 02 2004; 1:36 Min:
Quick Time Video (.mov) TV feature (9 MB)

31st Janaury 2003	Brute	Opening	Temperature Control, Batteries
Finishing in Berlin after 367 Tagen on 2nd February 2004 at +8°C (46°F)
On the 06th March 2004, a new snow man was deep-frozen. The buyer of the Probject accommodated the snow man constructed by local children in the town hall of Rottenburg-Oberndorf near Tuebingen. That's where it can still be visited. Homepage of the village: www.solardorf.org (site opens in new window)

Detailed Informationen on the project:

Die Geschichte des Projekts (German text about the concept and the history of the project, contains images)
Technische Daten (Technical Data)
Presse (Press reports summery)

Sponsors of the project: