Olafur Eliasson
Anthropocene
Humanity’s impact on the environment has gone past pollution and climate change and has moved our earth into a new, geological epoch. Named the Anthropocene, this new epoch is caused by human activity that sparked irreversible climate change. Though there is no exact starting date for the Anthropocene that scientists agree upon, it is generally thought that it started around the 1950’s as a reaction of atomic age. Others say that it dates back all the way to the start of the Industrial Revolution. Regardless, the Anthropocene has included the rise of the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, industrialization of agriculture, and mass urbanization. The move into this epoch is a reminder that our consumption has environmental impacts that affect the planet as a whole. These effects are glaringly visible with the melting of glaciers, rise of sea levels, and loss of biodiversity among other irreversible events.The changing of the environment, our role in that change, and our growing awareness of our role have contributed to a shift in contemporary art. Art has played a critical role in how we view and understand the Anthropocene. Anthropocene art is a new type of art that can be defined in two distinct parts. The first of which is that Anthropocene art is meant to remind us that our actions, both towards others and towards the earth, have consequences. Anthropocene art forces the audience to confront their role in creating climate change by forcing them to interact with tangible, fragile materials. In addition to reminding us of our responsibility in the creation of climate change, Anthropocene art also conjures conversation and offers solutions of how we can reduce climate change.
Olafur Eliasson – Artist of the Anthropocene
Olafur Eliasson is a contemporary artist from Denmark, though his art has taken him all over the world. His studio is stationed in Berlin where he continues to study, create and design, accompanied by more than ninety craftsmen, specialized technicians, architects, archivists, administrators, programmers, art historians, and cooks who work within the Studio Olafur Eliasson. He is mostly known for his sculpture and installation art but has also worked extensively in other mediums such as film, photography, and painting. Eliasson's works have been displayed in and out of museums in many countries across the world, as his experimental, experiential work is widely known and celebrated.What should art do for the viewer?
Olafur Eliasson’s style of art is experimental and experiential for the audience. The viewer should experience the art and become part of the experience itself. He believes that art should challenge the audience to view culture, community, and climate change differently. He does so by using elements of light, shadow, color, and the incorporation of natural elements such as water or fog.In his Ted Talk Olafur Eliasson addresses his style of art and what he thinks that art should accomplish. He talks largely about the space that a work of art should create. That space, whether it be a physical space or perceptual space, should invite the audience to interact with the art itself. Eliasson believes those who view his art should be able to see themselves within the space that he’s created. He creates tangible spaces with the incorporation of many elements such as shadow and fog in which the audience can see how their presence and their interaction with the art makes a difference to the artwork itself. This fosters a self-awareness of how our actions and presence makes a difference in the space that Olafur has created.
This idea of seeing the difference that we make within an artwork translates directly how our presence in the world makes a difference. Eliasson explains that this is how we see what the consequences are by being within that space. By being able to visually see how we can make a difference within an artificial space reminds us of the difference we can make on the earth. This is a way of challenging our perceptions, Eliasson says, by forcing us to recognize how our actions have consequences and create a sense of responsibility for the earth and space around us.
But this sense of awareness is not meant to be discouraging or daunting. Rather, it is meant to result in a desire to change for the better. Eliasson’s work is intended to seek solutions to the issues we’ve created in an urgency to create a better world. These solutions come to us through art and in the form of art. One of Eliasson’s friends, author Jonathan Safran Foer, says “he has more curiosity than anyone I’ve ever met, and a greater belief in a person’s ability to be useful and to change things.” Through his artwork it is obvious that Eliasson is striving towards making the world a better place and encouraging his audience to enact change around the world.
"I’m interested in the fact that our recent move towards the Anthropocene – towards acknowledging, that is, the impact of human activity on the ecological systems and atmospheres that surround us – has shifted our relationship to all things planetary. We no longer look at the earth from a distance from a disembodied, Google Earth perspective: we know that we are inseparable from it."
Ice Watch
One of Eliasson’s most well-known works was an installation piece called ‘Ice Watch’. There were actually two installations of this piece, the first being a ‘trial run’ in City Hall Square in Copenhagen to mark the publication of the UN IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change in October 2014. The second and more celebrated installation was in Paris at Place du Panthéon on the occasion of the UN Climate Conference COP21 in December 2015. Left out in a public square, people were able to interact with the installation 24 hours a day.Ice Watch was essentially twelve blocks of ice that had broken off of glaciers in Greenland that were collected and brought to location in Copenhagen and Paris. They were then arranged in a circle, a play off of the twelve numbers on a clock. Viewers could watch the ice melt in real time, watching the rapid destruction of thousands of years of construction of Greenland’s glaciers due to human activity. Eliasson worked in collaboration with geologist Minik Rosing to bring these ice blocks to the public. Ice Watch made climate change visible and tangible. Climate change was no longer just data that politicians and scientists talked about but something you were able to see, touch, and interact with.
True to Eliasson’s belief about art, Ice Watch wasn’t all about reminding us of the detrimental environmental consequences that our consumption causes. Eliasson’s installation was meant to foster conversation about not only understanding our role in this destruction, but what we can do about it. Intentionally planned at the time of the UN Climate Conference COP21, Ice Watch was meant to remind us that there is still hope and concrete action that we can take to change for the better. With the education and further understanding that Ice Watch brings its audience, a sense of hopeful responsibility for restoring the health of our environment and reducing our role in climate change. Eliasson made short films reflecting the message and experience that Ice Watch created, which you can watch here.
"It is a mistake to think that the work of art is the circle of ice—it is the space it invents."
Little Sun - "A work of art that works in life"
In 2012, Olfaur Eliasson started Little Sun in cooperation with Ethiopian citizens. Little Sun is a project that creates solar powered, sustainable light sources for off grid African communities. The goal of Little Sun is to support off grid African communities economically and environmentally. In the 5 years of the Little Sun project, more than 500,000 lamps have been sold, more than 1.2 million off grid lives affected, more than $55 million saved on energy expenses in off grid household, and nearly a million tonnes of Co2 reduced. Little Sun addresses inequalities that exist and offers a concrete, sustainable solution through the solar powered lights. Other goals that Little Sun works toward is energy access, education, environmental sustainability, gender equality, health and poverty eradication.
“Our actions have consequences for the world. Little Sun is a wedge that opens up the urgent discussion about bringing sustainable energy to all from the perspective of art to raise awareness about the unequal distribution of energy today.”
Little Sun products include two different designs of lamps, Little Sun Original and Little Sun Diamond, as well as a Little Sun Charge, a solar powered charger that can charge your phone, laptop, camera, or any other device. These products are sold on the Little Sun website and can be shipped around the world. For every Little Sun Product that is sold, one goes to Little Sun’s partners in rural Africa where they are sold for a locally affordable price. Little Sun works with locals in Africa to create businesses and generate local profit for those communities. This makes solar power available for communities without electricity, creating a better, safer, cleaner future for those citizens. And it all begins with art.
To learn more about Olafur Eliasson and explore more of his works, visit his website.
Sources:
Azzarello, Nina. “Interview With Artist Olafur Eliasson.” Designboom Architecture & Design Magazine, 16 Feb. 2015, https://www.designboom.com/art/olafur-eliasson-interview-artist-designboom-02-16-2015/.
Beauman, Ned. “Olafur Eliasson on How to Do Good Art.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/t-magazine/olafur-eliasson-interview-fondation-louis-vuitton.html.
Carrington, Damian. The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age. 29 August 2016. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth>.
Eliasson, Olafur. “Playing with Space and Light.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Feb. 2009, www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light.
Heartney, Eleanor. ART FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA. 6 February 2014. 2017. <http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/art-for-the-anthropocene-era/ >.
Little Sun, littlesun.com/.
Paluch, Anna. Facing Our Environment. n.d. 2017. <http://www.artandsciencejournal.com/post/102553140622/facing-our-environment-olafur-eliasson-is-an >.
Stromberg, Joseph. What Is the Anthropocene and Are We in It? . January 2013. 2017. <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/ >.
“Studio Olafur Eliasson.” Studio Olafur Eliasson, www.olafureliasson.net/.
Tiches, Christiana M. “The Urgent, Earth-Embracing Art of Ólafur Elíasson.” Artspace, 27 Aug. 2014, <https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/close_look/olafur-eliasson-close-look-52440>.
Zarin, Cynthia. “The Artist Who Is Bringing Icebergs to Paris.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2015, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-artist-who-is-bringing-icebergs-to-paris.
Beauman, Ned. “Olafur Eliasson on How to Do Good Art.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2014, www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/t-magazine/olafur-eliasson-interview-fondation-louis-vuitton.html.
Carrington, Damian. The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age. 29 August 2016. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/declare-anthropocene-epoch-experts-urge-geological-congress-human-impact-earth>.
Eliasson, Olafur. “Playing with Space and Light.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Feb. 2009, www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light.
Heartney, Eleanor. ART FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA. 6 February 2014. 2017. <http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/art-for-the-anthropocene-era/ >.
Little Sun, littlesun.com/.
Paluch, Anna. Facing Our Environment. n.d. 2017. <http://www.artandsciencejournal.com/post/102553140622/facing-our-environment-olafur-eliasson-is-an >.
Stromberg, Joseph. What Is the Anthropocene and Are We in It? . January 2013. 2017. <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-the-anthropocene-and-are-we-in-it-164801414/ >.
“Studio Olafur Eliasson.” Studio Olafur Eliasson, www.olafureliasson.net/.
Tiches, Christiana M. “The Urgent, Earth-Embracing Art of Ólafur Elíasson.” Artspace, 27 Aug. 2014, <https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/close_look/olafur-eliasson-close-look-52440>.
Zarin, Cynthia. “The Artist Who Is Bringing Icebergs to Paris.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2015, www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-artist-who-is-bringing-icebergs-to-paris.
