Conceptual artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese created a 3,000-pound ice sculpture spelling out “Democracy” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The work, titled *Last Call DemocracyICED*, stood five feet tall and 17 feet wide before melting. It was commissioned by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s and activist behind the Up In Arms campaign, which advocates for reducing Pentagon spending in favor of public health and education. Cohen cited actions by the Trump administration—such as attacks on free speech, secret police arrests, and military use against civilians—as threats to American democracy.
The piece matters because it uses a deliberately ephemeral medium to comment on the fragility of democratic institutions, echoing conceptual artist Francis Alÿs’s 1997 work *Paradox of Praxis I*, in which he pushed a block of ice until it melted. By allowing the sculpture to vanish, Ligorano and Reese underscore the urgency and impermanence of democratic values, turning a melting block of ice into a potent political metaphor. The work also highlights how activist art can engage broad public audiences on the National Mall, a symbolic site for protest and civic expression.