Snow Show Architect wins Prize

Recently I wrote about the unusual Snow Show in Finland. Today I found a link at studio notebook (March 31st post) to artdish and the following article:

"Zaha Hadid selected for architecture prize;
Her recent sculptural work on the rocks at Finland's snow show"

"Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid was selected to receive the esteemed Pritzker Architecture Prize for 2004. Hadid, 53, is the first woman to be honored with the Pritzker in its 25-year history, which will be awarded at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, in May.[ - ]

Hadid had also been a participant at the recent snow show held in Rovaniemi, Finland, this past February. In her collaboration with Cai Guo-Qiang, a pyrotechnical artist from China, Hadid created a massive ice sculpture that looms out of the snow like a colossal-sized igloo. But, wait, where's the fire, you ask? New York Times writer Alan Riding mentions in his article, "A frozen landscape of mysterious designs" (2 Mar 2004), that Guo-Qiang set fire to parts of the sculpture in a performance entitled "Caress Zaha with Vodka."

For more info and stunning photos of this annual event, check out the snow show. Congratulations!