One of Minnesota’s subzero specialties will return to south Minneapolis in January, with a new set of one-of-a-kind shanties. The Art Shanty Projects, a public art project of shacks on a frozen lake created by the local artist community, will return to the icy surface of Bdé Umáŋ (Lake Harriet) on January 17 and remain until February 8. See the full list and check out what’s new to expect.
The Beaver Shanty
Get your teeth and claws ready for beaver time! Two science research groups from the University of Minnesota’s Beaver Lab and Soil Lab invite visitors to learn about a beaver’s role in stream restoration and climate issue management from a first-person perspective. Wearing a beaver tail, visitors will forage for food, build a dam, and have a dam-good time.
Temporarily Not Soil
This shanty gets out its shrink ray and sends visitors down to the microbial level. Harnessing the power of imagination, visitors explore Earth like never before. Take a tour through the roots, invertebrates, and microbes that create a vibrant ecosystem down below.
Vibrance Research Station
A spaceship carrying aliens known as the “Vibrance” descends upon the Minnesota ice after its good vibration-senor went wild with the high frequencies detected at Bdé Umáŋ. The Vibrance send visitors on missions to determine from whence the good vibes came, meet the lake’s inhabitants, participate in cultural exchanges, and of course, to amp up the vibes.
Medusa (Club Med)
The hunt for good vibes might just bring visitors into the Medusa. It’s another alien ship, but this one arrives via crash-landing. To get their space shanty whirring again, these aliens need to harvest human energy—and what better way to do that than with a magical dance floor? Visitors can dance to Club Med’s house band, with its drum, bass guitar, and xylophone ensemble.
These shanties aren’t the only ones to look forward to this winter. Sub Bdé Umáŋ (a “submarine” that takes visitors below the lake’s surface), Disinteshanty (where visitors can add or remove pieces of the shanty, depending whether they want to feed the fire or block the wind), and Madson AIDS memorial Shanty (which confronts the past, present, and future of AIDS) will all be on the ice this year, as well as all of the Art Shanty Project regulars that visitors have come to know and love.