Olafur Eliasson

Flores-Contreras, Ignacio

Professor Briggs

LA1111L

September 30, 2018

Olafur Eliasson was born on February 5, 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He spent his time going back and forth between Iceland and Denmark growing up. Eliasson attended Royal Danish Academy of Fine arts from 1989 to 1995. The same year he finished at the Royal Academy he moved to Berlin where he started his studio bearing his name. According to his website, the studio now has over one hundred staffed architects, engineers, craftsmen, along with other artists and specialized professionals. In case that is not enough on his plate since 2014 he has been an adjunct professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, however this is not his first time as a professor, between 2009 and 2014 he tough at the Berlin University of the arts.

His artistic style is seen as installation art, in which the works are often indoor and is intended to alter the perception of space in a way to have you see things that may not necessarily be there. Olafur is very versatile and is not bound to one style of work, among other ways of working include photography, sculpture, film, and painting. His belief that art is a way of turning though into action is what drives him to create his works of art with the intention of inspiring people to take action on civic matters.

Eliasson was the recipient of the Quadriga award in 2010, an award that honors role models for German citizens and also observes the unification of East and West Germany. He would not hold on to the award for very long however, as the news that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would be awarded for the 2011 edition of the awards, Olafur returned his. He among others returned the award in protest of what they viewed that Putin was not deserving of the award due to his moral character. This act serves as evidence that he is committed to human rights and the fair treatment of people around the world.

His recent works have been guided more towards humanitarian and advocating for various environmental issues. In 2012 he along with engineer Fredrick Ottesen created Little Sun, they consider it a social business, whose main goal is to provide access to energy for people in parts of the world where electricity is hard to come by. They achieve this buy selling their products at higher prices in developed countries, so that they are able to sell them at lower prices to areas without access to electricity. They also stimulate the local economy by creating jobs and stimulating entrepreneurship in the area.

Eliasson’s more ambitious venture is Architecture and in June of 2018 his studio finished their first building designed solely by them. Fjordenhus is located in Vejle, Denmark whose design is centered around circles and ellipses, the interior furnishings and art works were designed by Olafur. The building is the headquarters of Kirk Capital, a holding and investment company, the building sits on water and at night resembles a light house.

Olafur Eliasson is not only an artist but also an advocate for human rights and the environment, which makes him a good role model. His humanitarian works and thought provoking installments allow us to question the current state of the world as well as forcing an evaluation on oneself to see where we stand on such issues. Through other installment he has provided fans of his works another point of view that otherwise might be missed if it weren’t for him bringing it to their attention.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/olafureliasson.net/objektimages_final/IMG_MDA117893_1600px.jpg

This image of his series Ice Watch, which aimed to bring the pressing issue of the melting glaciers off the Fjord in Iceland. Eliasson with the help of Minik Rosing a Geology professor at the Natural History Museum at the Copenhagen University, put together the art work outside of the Place du Panthéon in Paris France. The location was the setting for the 2015 COP 21 a United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the installation lasted from December 3rd through the 12th. The purpose was to bring into light the rate at which the glacier is melting and braking off, which according to their research, is melting at a rate faster than what can be replenished. Their findings conclude that the rate the glaciers are breaking off is speeding up, this is troublesome because every time one of them break, they add to the overall increase in sea level. They predict that if the current situation with global warming continues, that the temperature of the polar cap will rise by 3 degrees Celsius making the ice sheet located in Greenland unstable. This means that once the ice breaks off, it is more likely to melt, thus potentially raising the level of the sea to almost twenty-three feet. With these calculations they decided to harvest twelve chunks of ice from the Nuuk Fjord in Greenland each weighing around 11 tons. The chunks had already broken off from the sheet, therefore not affecting the sheet itself, it is estimated that one thousand worth of these chunks is lose vey second during the course of one year. It is why Olafur and Minik chose to display it during the climate change summit so that he raised awareness, and they did so in a dramatic fashion, the arrangement of chunks of ice in the form of a clock symbolized time. Time that was running out if there was no action taken into the matter of climate change, this was also a way to bring it to the attention of everyday people.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/olafureliasson.net/objektimages_final/IMG_MDA115571_1600px.jpg

This installment took place at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art located in Humlebæk, Denmark by the name of Riverbed, back in 2014. Eliasson says that although it didn’t have a meaning, the piece was purposefully devoid of any vegetation or other contrasting colors so that the monochromatic would highlight the water flowing. This allows the viewer to conclude whether the water is drying out or just starting to fill in the creek, therefore creating their own narrative and story about the intervention as he calls his works that call for the participation of the audience. He believes that people interact with the world is not a natural approach but a cultural approach, so the way we approach it is different with everyone. The installation he compares to a Japanese garden for the serenity and calmness and on the other side he compares it to a catastrophe whether it’s a mudslide or even the ancient city of Pompeii post volcanic eruption. The work filled the left wing of the museum and it allowed guests to have an interactive experience with nature indoors. Riverbed almost served as a social experiment for him, on different days he would observe different people acing and interacting differently and over time he began to notice small patterns. He noticed that some days smaller groups or people that were alone would take a shorter time in the exhibit than ones in bigger groups, he also noticed similar patterns across different age groups. The installation served more than one purpose for him in that sense and giving him a better understanding of how museum guests react to exhibits that are out of the ordinary.

The work style of Olafur Eliasson could have been inspired by various artist and architects from history. He seems to incorporate geometric shapes and figures into his works, and when I read that, I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe he was inspired by the Moors who left remnants of their once rich culture in the southern most parts of Spain. One aspect that his project Riverbed may convey was that the streamed may resemble a Japanese garden, one similarity is that the water is supposed to represent purity, cleansing of one’s soul, and it is a place of meditation. This is especially true because Eliasson wanted the viewer to experience the art on their own terms and make the experience whatever they want of it as long as it is honest. Japanese gardens were at their golden age during its middle ages in the Heian Period which lasted from 794 to 1185CE during that time art, poetry, and landscape design was reinvigorated. The Sakuteiki one of the oldest landscape manuals was penned in the early 11th century. The book explains concepts of rock placement and layout which would definitely be of great benefit to Eliasson during the construction of The Riverbed and also give details on ten different waterfall arrangements. Another similarity with Japanese garden is that this installation is walled in just like most gardens of the Middle Ages in Japan, although the circumstances are different this is another similarity in which the Japanese garden comparison can be accurate.

A potential historic influence for the Ice Watch project could be Watson Break, an embankment with the shape of a circle that is composed of eleven mounds varying in size. The site is located northeast Louisiana and dates back approximately five thousand years. Although the use of this area is most likely of funerary use, it also served as a plaza which is where Eliasson placed his Ice Watch installation. One more possible inspiration that Eliasson could have used for the blueprint of for the Ice Watch project is Stonehenge, in the same manner that it involves the arrangement of objects in a circular pattern for a specific use. The stones are almost twice the weight of that of the ice chunks and their placement was not the same as the ice was place with forklifts and the stones is not well known as to how they got placed. In any case the outcome is a circular arrangement of objects that serves a purpose, whether it is for religious or civic reasons or in the case of Eliasson’s installment it is for creating awareness of the damage we are doing to the environment.

The philosophy and work methods of Eliasson are driven by the idea that he is making an impact in the lives of people as well as advocating for the environment. His work to provide people in remote places electricity through more cost-effective sun powered lights and chargers through his organization is improving the lives of those whom otherwise might not have a chance at a better way of life. He is using his work and his fame as a platform to call for social and environmental reform, especially in a time where there are persons in power use that power to further expose their own people to suffering. Eliasson’s work is critical in that regard because he is a voice to those who do not have a voice and therefore cannot be heard, like the case of the glaciers melting near his home country. No matter where his inspirations come from, one thing is seeming to be a requiring theme, which is his commitment to doing things that are just and not putting into further danger the environment or the well-being of the underrepresented.

References

Studio Olafur Eliasson, olafureliasson.net/biography.

Kulish, Nicholas. “Quadriga Prize for Putin Canceled After Uproar in Germany.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 July 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/world/europe/17germany.html. “Ice Watch Paris.” Ice Watch Paris, icewatchparis.com/. Pregill, Philip, and Nancy Volkman. Landscapes in History: Design and Planning in the Eastern and Western Traditions. Wiley, 1999. “Olafur Eliasson: A Riverbed Inside the Museum – Louisiana Channel.” Louisiana Channel, 12 Apr. 2018, channel.louisiana.dk/video/olafur-eliasson-riverbed-inside-museum. Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow. Landscape Design: a Cultural and Architectural History. Abrams, 2003. “Interview with Artist Olafur Eliasson.” Designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine, 19 Oct. 2016, www.designboom.com/art/olafur-eliasson-interview-artist-designboom-02-16-2015/. Boults, Elizabeth, and Chip Sullivan. Illustrated History of Landscape Design. Wiley, 2010.

1. Quadriga prize 2. Ice Watch 3. Flow of water Riverbed 4. Watson Break

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2011/07/17/world/17germany2/17germany2-jumbo.jpg

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/olafureliasson.net/objektimages_final/IMG_MDA117656_1600px.jpg

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/olafureliasson.net/objektimages_final/IMG_MDA115383_1600px.jpg

Landscape Design: a Cultural and Architectural History