Olafur Eliasson's New Work Tames Urban Landscapes
This month, esteemed Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson will be taking over the iconic billboards of New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus with 'Lifeworld' - an installation supported by CIRCA that challenges the contemporary urban landscape.
This month, esteemed Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson will be taking over the iconic billboards of New York’s Times Square and London’s Piccadilly Circus with 'Lifeworld' - an installation supported by CIRCA that challenges the contemporary urban landscape.
There are few better ways to describe some of the world's most intoxicating metropolitan cities (New York and London) as gigantic swirls of colour because, quite truthfully, that is exactly what they are. Alas, such an interpretation is rather metaphorical in its tone, referring to the way a city's signature colours often affect its distinct feel and aura as they blur and overlap. But what happens when those cities really are stripped back to become nothing but significant blobs of colour resembling what once was? This is what Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson's latest project with CIRCA, Lifeworlds, is all about.
Subverting all expectations in classic Eliasson style, Lifeworlds accentuates the buzz of a city while also stepping back from the noise. The result? A truly mesmerisingly kaleidoscopic blur of colour that is as hazy as it is almost kinetic in the energy it pulsates. Transforming several of the world’s most iconic urban screens into expansive abstractions, part of Lifeworld's magic is that it will beam back intentionally cloudy and unfocused footage of the very location it is situated within reflecting how the project was initially realised as a collaboration between the screens and the public spaces they stand. In November, the project will also head to New York for a month-long takeover of Times Square’s 92 screens in collaboration with Midnight Moment.
In an attempt to expand Lifeworld beyond physical public spaces, CIRCA has partnered with WeTransfer as the exclusive Digital Screen Partner - meaning the project will be able to also garner a mass global audience online as well as those based in the relevant cities. As part of the project, a series of four hand-signed prints by Olafur Eliasson will be available to purchase until 31 December 2024.
Lifeworld will launch on 1 October at 20:00 in Piccadilly Circus, London and will be on view from 2 November to 30 November, nightly from 23:57 to midnight, in Times Square as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment series.