Behind the scenes with Olafur Eliasson as he re-photographs the Icelandic glaciers that he first photographed twenty years ago, in 1999.
In 1999, Olafur photographed several dozen glaciers in Iceland as part of his on-going project to document the natural phenomena of the country; this particular series of photographs formed a work called The glacier series. Twenty years later, Eliasson decided to return to Iceland to photograph the glaciers again. A new work, The glacier melt series 1999/2019, brings together thirty pairs of images from 1999 and 2019 to reveal the dramatic impact that global warming is having on our world.
The glacier melt series 1999/2019 is on view as part of the exhibition In real life – at Tate Modern, London, through 5 January 2020 and at Guggenheim Bilbao from 14 February to 21 June 2020; it is also on view in an exhibition at Reykjavik Art Museum from 28 November 2019 to 9 February 2020.
How can artists and arts institutions respond to the migrant crisis?
Join us for the panel talk: Art in real life: Migration, 18 November 2019, 18:30, Tate Modern
Taking Olafur’s project Green Light – An artistic workshop (2016) as a catalyst, this event will question how artists and art institutions can engage with migration in a moment of crisis. Examining a broad range of strategies, the speakers will discuss the potential of art and its limits. Speakers include artists Larissa Sansour and Imran Perretta, and Michaela Crimmin, co-director of Culture+Conflict
A transmitter of concrete and abstract ideas - SOE.TV
Vær i vejret, Orddrupgaard, Denmark. Video by Kyle Basilius
Have you seen the new season of Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix? Many have been commenting on Olafur’s “slow mirror”.. Can you see through the illusion? Be sure to check out the whole episode, and the other great artists and designers featured
Beauty, 1993. Now part of In real life, Tate Modern, London
Arctic tree drifter, 2019
I’m extremely honoured to become a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. Urgent climate action is needed and the best roadmap for our activities is the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As an artist, I believe that culture offers access to and a felt understanding of the challenges at hand, and I look forward to joining the United Nations Development Programme in working towards these goals
New season of Netflix's show Abstract premieres on 25 September
Live from SOE is a series of livestream episodes, conceived for Olafur’s exhibition 'In real life' at Tate Modern. Streaming every other week for 30 minutes directly from the studio, this is a chance to give our audience a view into our everyday life and what it means to make artworks, exhibitions, commissions, and works in public space with Olafur. Our second episode – titled 'Advanced geometry‘ – looked at how we work with geometry research and model-making, and how this research is eventually turned into artworks.
This video is an excerpt from the full-length episode - you can watch it on soe.tv
Seeing spheres, 2019, Chase Center, San Francisco. Photo: Matthew Millman
Join us today at 4pm CET on www.soe.tv, when we broadcast live from the studio kitchen. Please note that the live stream on soe.tv only works on desktops, using Chrome.
Seeing spheres, 2019 - unveiled today at Chase Center, San Francisco
Seeing spheres, 2019, Chase Center, San Francisco
Human time is movement (winter), Human time is movement (spring), Human time is movement (summer), 2019- part of Y/our future is now, Museu Serralves, Porto. Photo: Filipe Braga
Join us on Wednesday when we broacast live from the studio - this episode's topic is advanced geometry. Tune in to soe.tv at 16:00 CET (don't use Safari - it won't work).
Bowing my head to mourn a beautiful part of nature which has died because of human action is one of the saddest experiences. It is also a wake up call to tackle the human crisis we call a climate crisis - Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland
Detail from The glacier series, 2019 (Rótarjökull)
We desperately need leaders right now who are willing to recognize the climate emergency that we are facing and one that is getting worse with catastrophic consequences. Climate change represents the biggest human rights challenge of our time and we appeal to the Nordic heads of State to reflect this emergency and stand up to leaders who continue to suffer from a very bad case of cognitive dissonance - Kumi Naidoo, Secretary-General of Amnesty International
Detail from The glacier series, 1999 (Rótarjökull)