Known for his intricate, large-scale installations employing elemental materials such as light, water and air temperature to enhance viewer experience, Olafur Eliasson has become quite the heavy-hitter within the art world. His $15.5 million New York City public art installation ‘Waterfalls’ was one of the most expensive when it was installed in 2008. Now, the Berlin-based artist is preparing a site-specific solo exhibition for Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in his native Denmark.
Born to Icelandic parents in Copenhagen in 1967, Eliasson graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1995 before moving to Berlin where’s he had a studio ever since. “In this studio we do a lot of experiments. I would consider it more of laboratory. I have occasional meetings with scientists and I have an academy as part of the University of Berlin,” he said in his 2009 TED talk. It is no secret that the experimental artist creates many of his pieces with various partners, who function as mentors to the knowledge-seeking Eliasson.
Named ‘Riverbed,’ Eliasson’s solo exhibition at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which premieres August 20th, will feature a giant landscape covering the entire South Wing of the institution, which was established in an old villa 22 miles outside the Danish capital. Former exhibitions have included Cindy Sherman, Joseph Beuys and Yoko Ono, to name just a few.