Description:Q1770

The exhibition title references a 19th-century trade of ice that occurred between Northern Europe, Northern America, and the sub-continent, prior to the development of artificial refrigeration. The history of the ice trade corresponded to a time-specific configuration of environmental and economic processes; several weeks of transit in uninsulated hulls often resulted in quantities of ice being reduced by 50% in mass in the time taken to reach a destination and sales point. http://www.chelseaspace.org/archive/icetrade-pr.html