Happy International Day of Light
We wish all our collaborators, colleagues, and clients a Happy International Day of Light!
We are continuing with our #LightArt EQUATION Lighting Design team Initiative, which dives into our team members’ favorite artists and installations they have experienced worldwide.
Today, we talk about Olafur Eliasson.
Maida that spotlighted Olafur, had the opportunity to experience his “The weather project”, in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, London in 2003. Much later she had an opportunity to meet him in person in London.
This site-specific installation employed a semi-circular screen, a ceiling of mirrors, and artificial mist to create the illusion of a sun. Aluminium frames lined with mirror foil were suspended from the ceiling to create a giant mirror that visually doubled the volume of the hall – along with the semi-circular screen mounted on the far wall, its long edge abutting the mirrored ceiling. Backlit by approximately 200 mono-frequency lights, the semi-circle and its reflection created the image of a massive, indoor sunset seen through the artificial mist emitted into the room. By walking to the far end of the hall, visitors could see how the sun was constructed, and the reverse of the mirror structure was visible from the museum’s top floor. It was the visual experience that stayed in one’s mind for life.
Olafur Eliasson, born in1967, is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art that employs elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience.
In 1995, Olafur established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research. In 2014, Olafur and his long-time collaborator – German architect Sebastian Behmann – founded Studio Other Spaces, an office for architecture and art.
Olafur has engaged in a number of public projects, including the intervention Green river, carried out in various cities between 1998 and 2001; the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007, London, a temporary pavilion designed with the Norwegian architect Kjetil Trædal Thorsen; and The New York City Waterfalls, commissioned by Public Art Fund in 2008. Olafur also created the Breakthrough Prize trophy. Like much of his work, the sculpture explores the common ground between art and science. It is molded into the shape of a toroid, recalling natural forms found from black holes and galaxies to seashells and coils of DNA.
Photo Credits:
Photo 1,2,4: Studio Olafur Eliasson. © 2017 Olafur Eliasson
Photo 3: Olafur Eliasson Photo: Runa Maya Mørk Huber / Studio Olafur Eliasson. © 2017 Olafur Eliasson
