Olafur Eliasson

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Olafur Eliasson giving a speech about his work in 2008

Olafur Eliasson (born 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish-Icelandic artist, noted for his exhibition The Weather Project at the Tate Modern, London, in 2003. That same year, he also represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale.

1 Life
2 Works
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Life

From 1989 until 1995 Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. His work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. He currently lives and works in the German capital, Berlin.

In 1996, he started working with Einar Thorsteinn, an architect and geometry expert who is 25 years older than him. 8900054, their first piece created together, involved building a stainless-steel dome 30 feet wide and seven feet high, designed to be seen as if it were growing from the ground. The result visual is unparalleled. Despite the fact that it is an illusion, the mind has a hard time believing that the structure is not just part of a much grander one developing from deep underground. Thorsteinn's study in geometry and space have been integrated into Eliasson's artistic production, often seen in his geometric lamp works as well as his pavilions, tunnels and camera obscura projects. ^[1]

It was recently announced that he will be involved in a project with luxury goods company Louis Vuitton. According to LV website: "A new project by the internationally renowned artist Olafur Eliasson, Eye See You, will be presented at Louis Vuitton Fifth Avenue, the company's New York flagship, on Thursday 9th November 2006.

Commissioned by Louis Vuitton, Eye See You will form the centerpiece of the Christmas windows in all Louis Vuitton stores, of which there are more than 350 worldwide. In addition, a new work by the artist, entitled You See Me, will go on permanent display at Louis Vuitton Fifth Avenue. ^[2]

All fees from the project will be donated to 121Ethiopia.org, a charitable foundation recently established by Olafur Eliasson and his wife.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is organized Eliasson's first full-scale survey in the United States Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson, which was on view from September 8, 2007 to February 24, 2008. It was Eliasson’s first major U.S. survey exhibition. It spanned the artist’s diverse range of artistic production between 1993 and the present, the exhibition included site-specific installation, large-scale immersive environments, freestanding sculpture, photography, and special commissions seen through a succession of interconnected rooms and corridors, including the the museum’s skylight bridge which is turned into an installation titled One-way Colour Tunnel. ^[3]Curated by Madeleine Grynsztejn, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA and incoming director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in close collaboration with the artist, the major survey unified nearly 15 years of Eliasson’s career and will embark on a national tour following its San Francisco debut, accompanied by an extensive catalogue, the first American publication to fully assess the critical context of Eliasson’s practice.

[edit] Works

The Weather Project at Tate Modern, London, 2003.

[edit] Your Black Horizon

1 August – 31 October 2006 on the island of San Lazzaro in the lagoon near Venice, Italy. A light installation commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in collaboration with British architect David Adjaye. A temporary pavilion was constructed on the grounds of the monastery to house the exhibit, consisting of a square room painted black with one source of illumination - a thin, continuous line of light set into all four walls of the room at the viewers eye-level, serving as a horizontal division between above and below.

[edit] The Weather Project

The Weather Project was installed at the London's Tate Modern in 2003 as part of the popular Unilever series. The installation filled the open space of the gallery's Turbine Hall with representations of the Sun and the sky.

Eliasson used humidifiers to create a fine mist in the air via a mixture of sugar and water, as well as a semi-circular disc made up of hundreds of mono-frequency lamps which emitted pure yellow light. The ceiling of the hall was covered with a huge mirror, in which visitors could see themselves as tiny black shadows against a mass of orange light. Many visitors responded to this exhibition by lying on their backs and waving their hands. The work reportedly attracted two million visitors, many of them were repeat customers. ^[3]

[edit] The New York City Waterfalls

Eliasson has been commissioned by The Public Art Fund and New York City to create four man-made waterfalls, ranging in a height from 90 - 120 ft, in New York Harbor. The installation will run from mid-July to mid-October 2008.