Olafur Eliasson

By:Joe Cavero
 Background
Information
● Olafur Eliasson was born on February 5, 1967 in Copenhagen,
Denmark

● Olafur's mother, found work as a dressmaker, while his father,

Elías Hjörleifsson, who was an amateur artist, found work as a
cook on a fishing boat.

● When Olafur Eliasson was four years old, his parents divorced

● Olafur Eliasson started to produce his works in his early years. By

the time, when he was fourteen years old, he could draw every
bone in the human body, and at the age of fifteen, he had his first
art show, where he displayed several landscape paintings at an
alternative art space in Denmark

● Graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1995

● Worked as a professor at Berlin University of the Arts and Alle

School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
 Fun Fact
● As a teenager, Eliasson showed his love for art, but he didn't strive to become an artist. Instead, he
spent most of his time breakdancing after discovering the dance form on an American television show.
With two school friends, he formed a group, called "Harlem Gun Crew". They performed at clubs around
Copenhagen and competed internationally, eventually winning the Scandinavian breakdancing
championship twice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4nJNlnqwd4
● Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist and sculptor, who represents Light and Space movement.

● Eliasson uses elemental materials often such as light, water, and air temperature.

● His works enhances the viewers’ experience and activates their senses

● His intent is to create a relationship between the viewer and works, with the viewers reactions
being apart of the work
 Studio Olafur Eliasson
● Founded this studio after graduation in 1995

● The studio, which initially was meant to be a

"laboratory for spatial research", became a space
to engage with architects, engineers, craftsman
and assistants in order to conceive and
construct large-scale projects, installations and
sculptures.

● The space helped create works the embodied

Eliassons’ interests such as perception,
movement, experience and feelings of self within
both the manmade and natural worlds.
 Eliassons’ Works

The Weather Project (2003)

 Wirbelwerk (2012)

Whenever the
rainbow appears
(2010)
 Sun Has No Money
(2008)

Umschreibung (2004)
Your Star (2015)
Compassion Sphere (2011)
Cirkelbroen (2015)
https://prabook.com/web/olafur.eliasson/731447

https://olafureliasson.net/archive/artwork