DC-01: Art Meets Science

Ap Verheggen’s DC01 (2016) is the world’s first solar water sculpture. The piece, the debut installment in his ongoing SunGlacier project, incorporates water -- entirely harnessed by solar-power -- wood and steel to create a stunning visual commentary on water.

Exhibited first at the prestigious Museum Beelden aan Zee in the Netherlands, the piece garnered worldwide media attention. Verheggen and and his work on SunGlacier have been the subject of two New York Times articles, a Discovery Chanel highlight feature, a Reuters TV piece and a number of International TV programs. Using red cedar as secondary material, Verheggen has created a fountain sub-structure that is both inspired by the shape of splashing water drop and – in its rough-hewn pixilated form -- evokes a futuristic cityscape. DC01 is 252 cm high and 74 cm wide. Verheggen’s wider SunGlacier project focuses on the harvest of running water from atmospheric air, using only solar energy. Using art to introduce new technology, the artist is growing and empowering new audiences to be part of the climate-change debate, specifically in how it relates to growing water challenges. Verheggen worked on DC01, the flagship of the SunGlacier project, for six years, making its debut on the art market a rare opportunity for art investors. All proceeds of the sale of the sculpture will used to finance further installments in what Verheggen calls” Art meets Science projects”. The SunGlacier series is the artist’s follow-up project to cool(E)motion (2010), for which Verheggen created and airlifted two monumental sculptures onto a drifting iceberg in the North of Greenland to draw attention to the speed of climate change.