Olafur Eliasson

Composition with window, Iceland

1993

Through his photography, drawings, paintings, films, sculptures and large-scale immersive installations that integrate natural elements such as light, water and air, artist Olafur Eliasson is focused on sustainability and climate change, and seeks to explore how human beings interact with their environment.

Born in 1967, Eliasson grew up in Denmark and Iceland and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1989 to 1995. Following graduation, he moved to Berlin, where he founded his design studio — Studio Olafur Eliasson. 

Since 1997, Eliasson’s works have appeared in numerous museums worldwide, with his public-space installations garnering critical acclaim throughout the 2000s. In 2003, he represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale. That same year, he introduced his installation, The Weather Project, at the Tate Modern in London, for which he worked with a semi-circular screen, a ceiling of mirrors and artificial mist to create the illusion of a sun. 

In 2008, he was commissioned by New York’s Public Art Fund to create a public space project called Waterfalls, which was installed in several locations along New York City’s waterfronts. Then, in 2011, Eliasson created Your Rainbow Panorama, a circular, richly colored glass walkway on top of the ARoS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark. 

For Eliasson’s famous work Ice Watch, he and geologist Minik Rosing brought icebergs from Greenland to public squares in Copenhagen (2014), Paris (2015) and London (2018) in order to raise awareness of climate change.

Eliasson’s dedication to environmentalism extends past his art. In 2012, he founded the company Little Sun with engineer Frederik Ottesen, which produces and distributes solar lamps and chargers for use in off-grid communities. 

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