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Cirkelbroen, 2015. Christianshavns Kanal, Copenhagen. Image credit: Anders Sune Berg -
Atmosphere with orbiting light, 2016 Image credit: Jens Ziehe -
Ice Watch, 2014 Place du Panthéon, Paris, 2015. Image credit: Martin Argyroglo -
Glacial rock flour garden, 2016 Palace of Versailles. Image credit: Anders Sune Berg -
Solar compression, 2016. Palace of Versailles. Image credit: Anders Sune Berg -
Meteorological circles, 2016. Long Museum, Shanghai. Image credit: Anders Sune Berg -
The open pyramid, 2016. Long Museum, Shanghai. Image credit: Anders Sune Berg -
Care spiral, 2016. Image credit: Jens Ziehe -
Life of a planet, 2015. Image credit: Jens Ziehe -
Little Sun. Image credit: Shavan Rahim
INTERVIEWED BY Lindi Brownell Meiring IMAGES olafureliasson.net
Ahead of his talk at the Design Indaba Conference, we were lucky enough to chat with esteemed Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson about the importance of sustainable design, the fantastic Little Sun project (previously featured by VISI here), as well as what’s next for this important global endeavour.
You’re interested in how people experience and perceive things around them, especially in relation to art. Why is it important to you that your work is accessible to many?
My artworks depend on the viewers to complete them to a great extent. Once I have made a work and placed it in a certain context – a gallery, museum, or public space – it is still not a finished work on its own, I’d say. It needs the viewers to come into the space, to encounter it, and co-produce the artwork, as it were. In addition, my works are less about conveying information or spreading a metaphorical message. I am more interested in what the artworks do, how they perform in relation to the viewers and the surroundings, the experiences that arise from them.
From art installations and product design to architectural work, painting and photography, it seems there are no boundaries when it comes to your creativity. Is there a specific field you enjoy working in most?
Today, I am more and more involved in policy questions. I strongly believe that art needs to be engaged in broader cultural and political questions, and so for me works like Little Sun or Ice Watch, in which I brought Greenlandic glacial ice to Copenhagen and Paris to raise awareness of climate change, are the most interesting and challenging approaches to exploring the question of what culture is and can achieve.
Video via Studio Olafur Eliasson on Vimeo
The award-winning Little Sun project focuses on sustainable design and the importance of solar power. How did this project initially come about?
It started a number of years ago in a conversation I had with my friend Frederik Ottesen (who is also co-founder of Little Sun). He was working on a solar plane, and I was involved in discussing some questions related to its design. We were tossing a lot of ideas around, and then we began discussing the idea of a global campfire together – a kind of energy source that everyone could share. We then came up with the idea that everyone in the world should be able to hold a bit of sunlight in their hand. We thought about how great it would be if you could prolong the day by capturing the energy of the sun with a solar panel, and then release it again through an LED light. This is something that only became possible a few years ago because the price of solar panels fell significantly and the intensity of LED lights increased.
Image credit: Nicky Angunwa
Image credit: Little Sun on Facebook
Why, in your opinion, is sustainable design so important today?
My approach to design is as an artist, so I would say that for me, Little Sun as a social business is and will always remain an artwork in its totality. That is to say, that it is not the physical design of the object that primarily interests me – although this is extremely important – but rather the entire structure as a social business, including distribution and communications. Little Sun intersects with my overarching concerns as an artist, the way that light and the quality of light affects the way we see the world. Sustainable design, I’d say, should address more than just the physical object; it should also be about the whole system of distribution and production as well.
This year, you’re launching Little Sun Diamond. Can you tell us more about this new project?
I’m really excited to be giving a preview of it at Design Indaba. It expands the selection of lamps we make. The Diamond is smaller and lighter than both the Little Sun Original and the portable charger, Little Sun Charge, making it quite easy to carry around with you in your pocket. The entire front of it is a faceted lens, which gives it a particularly high-quality light, and it comes with a stand, so it’s a great desktop lamp.
What are you most looking forward to experiencing when in South Africa for Design Indaba?
I’ve been to South Africa a number of times over the years, going all the way back to 1997, when I took part in the 2nd Johannesburg Biennial. That was a very important show in my artistic development. I emptied a reservoir into the streets for my artwork Erosion, which was a semi-unofficial contribution to the biennial. One of the things I am looking forward to this time is that the co-founder of Little Sun, Frederik, is now living in South Africa, and I am eager to visit him there and to deepen our connections in this country.
See more of Olafur’s work at olafureliasson.net.
