4.5 Tons is an ecological art installation completed in the autumn of 2024 in the Kubuqi Desert of Inner Mongolia, a collaboration between the author and artist Betta Liu. A temporary wall composed of approximately 4.5 tons of ice was positioned in a desert no-man's-land. During its brief 21-hour lifespan, it became an abrupt yet emotionally resonant presence.
From an ecological art perspective, 4.5 Tons explicitly rejects the aesthetic cult of permanence. As a material, ice naturally carries an unstable certainty. Under the desert’s intense sunlight and ground heat, the ice wall undergoes a complete cycle: the establishment of form, the loosening of structure, partial collapse, and final disappearance. Ultimately, it leaves only a faint, transient mark on the sand—pointing toward a state of existence that is both solemn and fragile.
This dynamic process shares a profound philosophical resonance with the concept of the "Rhizome" proposed by Deleuze and Guattari. Melting no longer signifies mere disappearance, but a classic rupture-regeneration mechanism: while the form collapses, new energy and relationships are being generated and diffused. The work disintegrates at the material level but continues to spread across relational, perceptual, and cultural dimensions.
