Olafur Eliasson

Bio

Artist

Olafur Eliasson’s art is driven by his interests in perception, movement, embodied experience, and feelings of self. Eliasson strives to make the concerns of art relevant to society at large. Art, for him, is a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world.

Since 1997, his solo shows have appeared in major museums around the world. Eliasson’s projects in public spaces include The New York City Waterfalls in 2008, and Ice Watch, which brought melting icebergs from Greenland to Copenhagen in 2014 and to Paris on the occasion of the COP21 Climate Conference in 2015 to make climate change tangible. Together with engineer Frederik Ottesen, Eliasson founded the social business Little Sun in 2012. This global project produces and distributes the Little Sun solar lamp for use in off-grid communities and spreads awareness about the need to expand access to sustainable energy to all. In 2017 Eliasson founded the Little Sun Foundation to bring light to the most vulnerable communities.

“Art, I believe, has great potential for changing the way we discuss an issue as important as climate change. It makes something not only comprehensible for the mind but also physically tangible – turning thinking into doing.”

– Olafur Eliasson

Bio

Olafur Eliasson

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