On Earth Day 2020, Columbia University School of the Arts launched an interview series with past visiting artists and thinkers. Renowned Danish-Icelandic visual artist Olafur Eliasson was the first contributor.
What are you thinking about now?
The COVID-19 situation has provided me more time to think and read. At my studio in Berlin, we reacted quickly to this challenge by adopting alternative ways of working. Now I’m focusing on how I can contribute to the dialogue about what is currently happening in the world, working, for example, with a group of scientists to address the emotions and narratives associated with the changes. We’ll be asking people to contribute their thoughts and share their personal stories in statements along the lines of "I used to X, now I X," and we’ll probably add "In the future, I will X."
Over the past year, I’ve become more and more interested in art in the digital realm, which has become especially relevant now. This summer I am launching a large-scale project that I’ve conceived with young people. It’s a digital space in which they can express their views on the planet. Another project, Earth perspectives, launched on Earth Day, 22 April. It’s about how we compose images of the Earth and about how multiple perspectives must be able to coexist if we are to think holistically about the future of our planet. I’m also collaborating with Acute Art on an artwork that uses augmented reality.
What are you thinking about now?
I am thinking that "sometimes the river is the bridge," to paraphrase John Ralston Saul. The fact that many people are turning to culture in these times of physical distancing is inspiring. Getting together around art, also online, is a way of finding space for imagination, of inventing worlds, of being together while staying apart. It testifies to the trust people feel in art, which I have long felt to be the case but now we know. My current show at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo didn’t open as planned in March, but you can visit it here.The artworks are sitting patiently in the museum, waiting to meet up with visitors once the virus has subsided.