Olafur Eliasson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Olafur Eliasson
Olafur in 2015
Born	Ólafur Elíasson 5 February 1967 (1967-02-05) (age 58) Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish–Icelandic
Known for	Installation art

Olafur Eliasson (Icelandic: Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is a famous artist from Denmark and Iceland. He is known for creating sculptures and huge art installations. He often uses natural things like light, water, and even air temperature to make his art special. His goal is to change how people experience the world around them.

In 1995, Olafur started his own place called Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, Germany. It's like a special lab where he explores ideas about space. Later, in 2014, he and architect Sebastian Behmann also started Studio Other Spaces to work on art and building projects.

Olafur showed his art at the Venice Biennale in 2003, representing Denmark. That same year, he created The Weather Project at the Tate Modern in London. This artwork was a huge success and is seen as a very important piece of modern art.

He has also worked on many public art projects. These include Green river, where he dyed rivers green in different cities. He also helped design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London in 2007. Another big project was The New York City Waterfalls in 2008. Olafur even designed the trophy for the Breakthrough Prize, which looks like a toroid (a donut shape). This shows how his art often mixes art and science.

From 2009 to 2014, Olafur was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 2014, he has also been a professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Ethiopia. His main studio is in Berlin.

Discovering Olafur Eliasson's Art

Early Life and Education

Olafur Eliasson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1967. His parents were from Iceland. They moved to Copenhagen for work. His father was a cook, and his mother was a seamstress. When Olafur was eight, his parents separated. He lived with his mother and stepfather. His father, who became an artist, moved back to Iceland. Olafur spent summers and holidays there.

When he was 15, Olafur had his first art show. He displayed drawings and paintings at a small gallery in Denmark. But Olafur actually thought his break-dancing was his first art! In the mid-1980s, he formed a group called the Harlem Gun Crew with two friends. They performed for four years and even won the Scandinavian championship.

Olafur studied art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1989 to 1995. In 1990, he used a travel grant to go to New York. There, he worked for another artist and read books about how we see and understand things.

Starting His Artistic Journey

Olafur finished art school in 1995. Before that, he lived in Cologne for a year, then moved to Berlin. He has had his art studio in Berlin ever since. His first studio was in an old train depot. In 2008, he moved it to a former brewery.

In 1996, Olafur began working with Einar Thorsteinn. Einar was an architect and expert in geometry, much older than Olafur. They created a piece called 8900054. It was a stainless-steel dome, 30 feet (9 meters) wide and 7 feet (2 meters) high. It looked like it was growing out of the ground. Einar's knowledge of shapes and space has been very important in Olafur's art. You can see it in his lamp designs and other projects.

Olafur often works with experts from different fields. His studio, Studio Olafur Eliasson, is like a "laboratory for spatial research." It has a team of architects, engineers, and assistants. They all work together to create his amazing art. Olafur is inspired by artists like Bruce Nauman, James Turrell, and Robert Irwin.

As a professor, Olafur started the Institute for Spatial Experiments (IfREX) in 2009. This institute is part of his studio. Huffington Post even named Olafur one of the "18 green artists" who care about climate change.

Famous Artworks and Projects

Beauty (1993)

Beauty is a simple but powerful water installation. It uses spotlights to create a rainbow effect. People who have seen it say it reminds them of the delicate beauty of nature.

Ventilator Pieces

Some of Olafur's early works involve electric fans hanging from the ceiling. Ventilator (1997) swings back and forth, spinning around. Quadrible light ventilator mobile (2002–2007) uses a searchlight and four fans. They blow air and scan the room with light. These pieces play with how air and light move in a space.

The Weather Project

The weather project at Tate modern

The Weather Project was a huge installation at the Tate Modern in London in 2003. It filled the massive Turbine Hall. Olafur used humidifiers to make a fine mist in the air. He also created a giant semicircle of yellow lights. This was reflected by a huge mirror on the ceiling, making it look like a full sun.

Visitors saw themselves as tiny shadows against the orange light. Many people lay on their backs, waving their hands and legs. They felt like they were inside a cloud, near the sun. The mirrors made the space below look like a reflection. Both adults and children enjoyed this interactive experience.

The Weather Project was very popular. About two million people saw it in six months. It is still Olafur's most famous work. Many art critics praised its beauty and power.

Light Installations

Your Oceanic Feeling (2015) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2022

Olafur loves to experiment with light and atmosphere. In Room For One Colour (1998), a corridor was lit with yellow lamps. This made people see all colors as shades of yellow. Another work, 360 degrees Room For All Colours (2002), is a round light sculpture. Inside, people lose their sense of space and are surrounded by intense light.

His installation Din blinde passager (Your blind passenger) (2010) is a 90-meter-long tunnel. When you enter, you are surrounded by thick fog. You can only see about 1.5 meters ahead. This makes you rely on your other senses to find your way. People have described feeling "alone in the universe" inside it. For Feelings are facts, Olafur filled a gallery in Beijing with artificial fog and colored lights.

Green River

In 1998, Olafur found a safe, non-toxic powder called uranin. It is used to find leaks in pipes, but it can also dye rivers a bright green. Olafur tested it in the Spree River in Berlin. Then, he secretly added the dye to rivers in other cities. These included Moss (Norway), Bremen (Germany), Los Angeles (USA), Stockholm (Sweden), and Tokyo (Japan). He never warned anyone beforehand. When he did this in Stockholm, people were worried the water was polluted! This project made him famous around the world.

Riverbed

At the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (2014–2015), Olafur created Riverbed. He used natural rocks, dirt, and water to turn the gallery into a landscape. It looked like a real riverbed. Olafur's art often makes natural things look both real and a bit artificial. Riverbed was an immersive experience. Visitors could walk through it and use all their senses. It made them think about their freedom within a designed space.

Iceland Photographs

Olafur often shows grids of color photographs he took in Iceland. Each group of photos focuses on one thing. For example, he has series on volcanoes, hot springs, or isolated huts. In one early series, he tried to photograph all of Iceland's bridges. Another series from 1996 showed what happened after a volcanic eruption. He often takes these photos from a small plane. When arranged in a grid, the photos look like the repetitive works of German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher.

Your Black Horizon

This light installation was made for the Venice Biennale in 2005. It was shown on an island near Venice. A temporary building was made for it. Inside, the room was black. The only light was a thin, continuous line of light at eye-level on all four walls. This line divided the space into "above" and "below." In 2007, the building was moved to an island in Croatia.

Your Mobile Expectations: BMW H2R Project

In 2007, BMW asked Olafur to create their sixteenth art car. He used a hydrogen-powered car called the BMW H2R. Olafur and his team removed the car's outer body. They replaced it with a framework of steel bars and mesh. Then, they sprayed about 530 gallons of water onto it over several days, creating layers of ice. The frozen sculpture glowed from the inside. This artwork was shown in special temperature-controlled rooms in San Francisco and Munich.

The New York City Waterfalls

Waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge in the background is the Manhattan Bridge.

The Public Art Fund asked Olafur to create four man-made waterfalls in New York Harbor. These waterfalls were between 90 and 120 feet (27 to 36 meters) tall. The installation ran from June to October 2008. It cost $15.5 million, making it one of the most expensive public art projects at the time.

The Parliament of Reality

This permanent sculpture was opened in 2009 at Bard College in New York. It is based on the Althingi, the ancient Icelandic parliament. This was one of the world's first democratic meeting places. Olafur wanted the sculpture to be a place where students and visitors could relax, talk, or even debate.

The artwork is a man-made island surrounded by a circular lake. It has 24 trees and wild grasses. The island is 100 feet (30 meters) wide. It has a floor pattern made of bluestone, like a compass. On top of this, 30 large rocks form an outdoor seating area. A stainless steel bridge leads to the island, making it feel like you are entering a stage. At night, frogs gather in the bridge's mesh, creating a "symphony."

Colour Experiment Paintings (2009–)

For this ongoing series, Olafur studies colors and how paints are made. He mixes paints to match every tiny part of the visible light spectrum. He also looks at the work of old painters like Caspar David Friedrich and J. M. W. Turner. In 2014, he created Turner colour experiments by analyzing Turner's use of light and color.

Harpa

Olafur helped design the outside of Harpa. This is Reykjavík's new concert hall and conference center, finished in 2011. He worked with the building's architects, Henning Larsen Architects. They designed a unique facade made of large, twelve-sided glass and steel modules. The facade reflects the city and changes with the sunlight and weather. At night, colored LED lights light up the glass. The building opened in May 2011 and was highly praised.

Your Rainbow Panorama

Your rainbow panorama at ARoS Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

Olafur's artwork Your rainbow panorama is a circular walkway. It is 150 meters (492 feet) long and 3 meters (10 feet) wide. It is made of glass in every color of the rainbow. It sits on top of the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Aarhus, Denmark. It opened in May 2011. Visitors can walk through it and see a panoramic view of the city in different colors. The project cost 60 million Danish kroner. At night, spotlights inside light up the artwork.

Moon

In 2013, Olafur and artist Ai Weiwei launched Moon. This is an online platform where people can draw on a digital replica of the moon. Olafur described it as "a sphere on which you can make a mark. Not just to make a mark, but make a mark that matters to you. Make your wish, make your dream." It was open to everyone and had over 35,000 participants in just six weeks.

Contact

From December 2014 to February 2015, Olafur had an exhibition called Contact at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. The artworks were like a journey. Visitors walked through dark passages and large installations. They became part of a dance of darkness, light, shapes, and reflections. The exhibition explored how we see things and how space is created.

Ice Watch Series

The Ice Watch series (2014-2018) aims to make people think about climate change. Olafur placed huge blocks of ice in cities like Copenhagen (2014), Paris (2015), and London (2018). He did this during important climate change meetings. He brought twelve ice blocks from a fjord in Greenland to Copenhagen. Each block weighed between 1.5 and 5 tonnes. They were placed in a circle.

In 2015, he brought twelve more ice blocks from Greenland to Paris. This was timed with the UN Climate Change Conference. In 2018, he brought thirty ice blocks to London, placing them near the Tate Modern and Bloomberg headquarters. This art helps people understand their connection to nature during the climate crisis.

Vertical Panorama Pavilion (2022)

This pavilion was built for a winery in California. It can hold up to 12 guests. The design was inspired by old circular calendars. The roof has 832 recycled glass panels in 24 colors. It is supported by 12 stainless-steel columns. From far away, you can only see the colorful glass roof.

Other Projects

From 2005 to 2007, Olafur worked with violin maker Hans Jóhannsson. They created a new violin that used modern technology and a fresh look.

In 2006, Louis Vuitton asked Olafur to create lamps for their Christmas windows. These lamps were called Eye See You. A lamp called You See Me is now on permanent display at Louis Vuitton in New York. These simple lamps use a single light source and a curved mirror. All the money from this project went to 121Ethiopia.org. This charity was started by Olafur and his wife to help an orphanage.

In 2007, Olafur designed the stage for an opera called Phaedra in Berlin.

Critics have praised Olafur's ability to make people aware of how their eyes and brain work. His exhibitions often have beautiful and surprising effects. Some works, like Moss wall (1994), use smell to create a strong feeling of Scandinavia.

In 2012, Olafur and engineer Frederik Ottesen started Little Sun. This company makes solar-powered LED lamps.

In 2014, his work Kissing Earth was planned for a train station in the Netherlands. It showed two globes. But the project was canceled in 2016 due to protests and cost concerns.

In 2019, Olafur was asked by the German government to create a "pan-European work of art." This would be for Germany's time as president of the European Council in 2020.

Olafur's AR Wunderkammer project is an AR app. It lets users place virtual objects like burning suns or alien rocks into their own environment.

Some of Olafur's favorite works include Five Dimensional Pavilion (1998), Model room (2003), The Parliament of Reality (2006–09), the facades of Harpa (2005–11), and Your Rainbow Panorama (2006-2011).

Exhibitions

Olafur had his first solo art show in Cologne in 1993. In 1996, he had his first show in the United States. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) organized his first big US exhibition, Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson, from 2007 to 2008. This show covered his work from 1993 to 2007. It included installations, sculptures, photos, and special projects. The museum's skylight bridge was even turned into an artwork called One-way colour tunnel. This exhibition then traveled to other major museums in New York, Dallas, Chicago, and Sydney.

He has also had solo exhibitions in many other famous museums around the world. These include museums in Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Berlin. Olafur's art has also been part of many group exhibitions, like the Venice Biennale.

From July 2019 to January 2020, the Tate Modern in London showed his exhibition In real life.

Until July 2025, Open is Olafur's first big exhibition in Los Angeles. It features light and geometry installations, including a large mirrored sphere.

Collections

Olafur's art can be found in many permanent collections. Some of these include:

• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Centre for International Light Art (CILA), Unna, Germany
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
• Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
• SFMOMA, San Francisco

Awards and Recognition

Olafur has received many awards for his art. In 2004, he won the Nykredit Architecture Prize. The next year, he received the Prince Eugen Medal for sculpture. In 2006, he won the Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize. He also won the Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts. In 2007, he received the first Joan Miró Prize.

In 2010, Olafur received a Quadriga award. However, he returned it a year later when he learned that Vladimir Putin would also receive the award. In 2013, he was honored with the Goslarer Kaiserring. That same year, he and Henning Larsen Architects won the Mies van der Rohe Award for the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland.

In 2014, Olafur received the $100,000 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. This award supports an artist's future creative work. As part of the award, he became an artist in residence at MIT, where he studied and taught.

In June 2013, the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, visited Olafur's studio in Berlin. A documentary film called Domingo was made about Olafur in 2014.

Personal Life

In 2003, Olafur married Marianne Krogh Jensen, an art historian. They adopted their son in 2003 and their daughter in 2006, both from Ethiopia. They used to live in a house near Copenhagen. Olafur and Marianne are no longer married. Olafur now lives and works in Berlin. He speaks Icelandic, Danish, German, and English. His younger half-sister, Victoria Eliasdottir, is a chef.

On September 22, 2019, Olafur was named a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Programme. This means he helps promote urgent action on climate change and sustainable development goals. Olafur believes it's important to stay positive. He said, "There is reason for hope. I believe in hope as such and I'm generally a positive person."

See also

In Spanish: Olafur Eliasson para niños

• List of exhibitions by Olafur Eliasson