1 00:00:07,007 --> 00:00:10,218 [Olafur] I would like to design an experiment with you. 2 00:00:11,261 --> 00:00:14,055 This means that you and I are gonna collaborate and... 3 00:00:14,764 --> 00:00:17,934 for that to happen, it would be great if you could turn off... 4 00:00:18,977 --> 00:00:22,397 any other light than the screen you're looking at. 5 00:00:23,648 --> 00:00:27,110 You could pause the episode here and sort it out, 6 00:00:27,777 --> 00:00:28,987 but think of... 7 00:00:29,904 --> 00:00:32,490 the screen, the TV, as a lamp. 8 00:00:34,451 --> 00:00:37,537 You shouldn't, uh, look at the screen, look at the space around the screen 9 00:00:37,620 --> 00:00:40,165 and pay attention to how you are in that space. 10 00:00:40,248 --> 00:00:42,500 But let's... let's just get started. So, check this out. 11 00:00:42,584 --> 00:00:44,961 First, I'm gonna start by making it yellow. 12 00:00:46,755 --> 00:00:48,173 I like the color yellow, 13 00:00:48,256 --> 00:00:50,842 but see how the room is in fact now yellow. 14 00:00:52,552 --> 00:00:53,636 Enjoy the yellow. 15 00:00:55,180 --> 00:00:56,639 Maybe take a deep breath. 16 00:00:57,974 --> 00:00:59,225 Let's change that color. 17 00:01:02,062 --> 00:01:04,189 Do you see how your room suddenly changed? 18 00:01:06,149 --> 00:01:09,402 Red light makes you more calm, it makes you tired. It relaxes you. 19 00:01:11,821 --> 00:01:15,492 Where, with a certain blue color, you stay awake. 20 00:01:17,535 --> 00:01:21,039 So, every color has a sort of different way of influencing us. 21 00:01:22,373 --> 00:01:23,833 This is what art is about. 22 00:01:24,417 --> 00:01:26,795 You are a co-author with me, 23 00:01:27,754 --> 00:01:31,382 the main protagonist. What you see is quite up to you. 24 00:01:40,266 --> 00:01:41,643 [narrator] Olafur Eliasson: 25 00:01:42,102 --> 00:01:44,854 artist, architect, and design phenom. 26 00:01:45,438 --> 00:01:48,274 [man] In Olafur's work, you first have a "wow," 27 00:01:49,275 --> 00:01:50,819 and then you have an "aha." 28 00:01:57,117 --> 00:01:58,576 [man 2] Olafur Eliasson is celebrated 29 00:01:58,660 --> 00:02:01,746 for creating immersive spaces and experiences. 30 00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:07,001 [man 3] He's truly an artist who interacts with his environment. 31 00:02:08,711 --> 00:02:12,090 [narrator] Eliasson is an expert in the art of smoke and mirrors. 32 00:02:14,050 --> 00:02:15,760 [woman 1] There is no artist on the planet 33 00:02:15,844 --> 00:02:18,555 operating on a more global scale than Olafur. 34 00:02:23,434 --> 00:02:27,897 [woman 2] To him, changing the world means changing the way we experience the world. 35 00:02:45,498 --> 00:02:47,959 [Olafur] This is my studio in Berlin, and, um... 36 00:02:49,252 --> 00:02:51,546 the studio is really a place where... 37 00:02:52,213 --> 00:02:55,175 I and the team, we work together making art. 38 00:02:56,593 --> 00:02:59,345 I love my studio being exciting and magical 39 00:02:59,429 --> 00:03:03,349 and capable of doing things that otherwise would be hard to do, 40 00:03:03,433 --> 00:03:04,809 because we just play a lot. 41 00:03:05,727 --> 00:03:07,812 It's not rational, it's not pragmatic. 42 00:03:08,521 --> 00:03:10,023 I mean, it's about making art. 43 00:03:11,274 --> 00:03:15,236 So, it's not like walking out of reality into some kind of dream world, right? 44 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:16,821 You actually walk into the studio 45 00:03:16,905 --> 00:03:19,365 and you see the real world in a microscope. 46 00:03:20,033 --> 00:03:22,619 The mirror is looking to the center at the moment. 47 00:03:22,702 --> 00:03:24,829 Yeah, but that means the mirror is looking to the center 48 00:03:24,913 --> 00:03:26,164 but is on the side of the ball. 49 00:03:26,247 --> 00:03:27,332 -[woman] Yes. -[Olafur] Okay. 50 00:03:27,415 --> 00:03:29,334 I mean, there's so much going on 51 00:03:29,709 --> 00:03:32,212 that you don't really look... 52 00:03:33,046 --> 00:03:34,088 carefully enough. 53 00:03:35,298 --> 00:03:36,925 I think it's maybe more interesting if... 54 00:03:38,092 --> 00:03:39,594 maybe they are connected like this? 55 00:03:39,677 --> 00:03:42,931 Because somehow the baits are taking too much attention. 56 00:03:44,098 --> 00:03:45,850 Okay, great. Let's go on. 57 00:03:48,394 --> 00:03:49,896 Phil? Yeah. 58 00:03:52,941 --> 00:03:54,025 [man] Olafur likes... 59 00:03:54,776 --> 00:03:56,361 different kind of materials, 60 00:03:56,819 --> 00:03:59,572 different way to structure things. 61 00:04:00,990 --> 00:04:04,118 So, that openness lead him to... 62 00:04:04,661 --> 00:04:06,371 a new type of art. 63 00:04:10,667 --> 00:04:14,128 [Olafur] A lot of my work is exploring this notion of... 64 00:04:14,587 --> 00:04:18,216 what we consider truth depends on how you look at it. 65 00:04:20,093 --> 00:04:23,179 We create reality as we go through space. 66 00:04:28,935 --> 00:04:30,645 When you look at a work of art, 67 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,941 it is as if it is looking at you. 68 00:04:35,441 --> 00:04:37,944 You are the one who's being listened to. 69 00:04:43,283 --> 00:04:47,620 My work is completely dependent on the spectator 70 00:04:47,704 --> 00:04:50,123 turning ideas into art. 71 00:04:51,291 --> 00:04:54,711 And that's the same thing with, you know, a Netflix space. 72 00:04:55,003 --> 00:04:58,172 Obviously, we have a situation where somebody's watching, right? 73 00:04:58,631 --> 00:05:00,091 Hello. And then, 74 00:05:00,842 --> 00:05:02,719 I assume there's a kind of a screen. 75 00:05:04,220 --> 00:05:08,516 Maybe it is interesting to explore what these people are actually looking at. 76 00:05:08,599 --> 00:05:10,393 I mean, what's actually going on. 77 00:05:13,479 --> 00:05:15,982 The thing is, this is a constructed situation. 78 00:05:16,065 --> 00:05:17,150 Let me just show you. 79 00:05:17,358 --> 00:05:20,278 See this? This is you... This is you and the camera, right? 80 00:05:20,361 --> 00:05:23,323 Look, it's like I'm surrounded with all these people here. 81 00:05:23,948 --> 00:05:25,366 I mean, what we take for granted... 82 00:05:25,450 --> 00:05:27,744 "Oh, he's talking to the camera," is actually... 83 00:05:27,827 --> 00:05:29,662 I wouldn't say it's manipulated, but, you know, 84 00:05:30,079 --> 00:05:32,081 it's... for sure it's constructed, right? 85 00:05:32,165 --> 00:05:33,708 A little bit like this episode. 86 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:34,834 [man chuckles] 87 00:05:34,917 --> 00:05:38,129 [woman] Okay, here. Why don't you talk to Mark? Here, hold on a second. 88 00:05:38,212 --> 00:05:40,715 [Olafur] So, when I started, I was really interested in... 89 00:05:41,174 --> 00:05:43,468 what was between the walls. 90 00:05:43,551 --> 00:05:46,429 I mean, that invisible thing, which is, I guess... 91 00:05:46,512 --> 00:05:50,641 I guess it's just air, but how can I just show the nothingness? 92 00:05:52,643 --> 00:05:56,272 So, one of my very first works was an attempt to make a rainbow. 93 00:05:58,274 --> 00:06:00,276 I thought about how is a rainbow made. 94 00:06:01,569 --> 00:06:03,488 But the truth is, there's not much to it. 95 00:06:04,906 --> 00:06:08,451 It's about the angle of the eye, the drop, and the light. 96 00:06:09,369 --> 00:06:11,079 And if there is no eye, 97 00:06:11,162 --> 00:06:14,082 then that angle is not there and then there is no rainbow. 98 00:06:14,290 --> 00:06:16,626 The person next to you doesn't see your rainbow, 99 00:06:16,709 --> 00:06:18,544 because that eye is somewhere else. 100 00:06:20,546 --> 00:06:23,966 This is a space totally dependent on you being there. 101 00:06:25,593 --> 00:06:29,138 When you leave the exhibition, there's nobody in the room. 102 00:06:30,223 --> 00:06:31,391 There's also no art. 103 00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:35,478 It's not about a rainbow, really. It's really about... 104 00:06:35,686 --> 00:06:38,731 "Do I trust my own eyes and my own capacity to... 105 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:40,775 engage in the world?" 106 00:06:45,530 --> 00:06:47,532 So, why do I make what I make, right? 107 00:06:59,210 --> 00:07:01,754 I grew up in Denmark, and I spent a lot of time... 108 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:04,173 with my father in Iceland. 109 00:07:05,550 --> 00:07:10,054 And using water, or mist, or light just came natural to me. 110 00:07:12,682 --> 00:07:15,143 And I like referencing the nature in my work. 111 00:07:17,145 --> 00:07:18,855 See if I can film people looking at it. 112 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:23,568 [woman] Sorry, there's no photography allowed in here. 113 00:07:23,651 --> 00:07:27,447 [Olafur] Okay. Uh, I am, uh, the artist. I'm sure it's okay. Thank you. 114 00:07:30,825 --> 00:07:33,369 Nature became a kind of a way for me 115 00:07:33,953 --> 00:07:35,204 to create a language 116 00:07:35,288 --> 00:07:37,999 which people could relate to. 117 00:07:40,793 --> 00:07:43,546 Because everybody knows a rainbow. 118 00:07:45,047 --> 00:07:48,301 It's a natural phenomena and something very easily accessible. 119 00:07:48,968 --> 00:07:51,721 And because the water is kind of falling, you're suddenly conscious 120 00:07:51,804 --> 00:07:53,306 about time is passing somehow. 121 00:07:54,974 --> 00:07:56,851 That's why I like this waterfall a lot 122 00:07:56,934 --> 00:07:59,437 because it's great to just get a sense of the scale 123 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,107 simply by looking at the speed of the water as it falls. 124 00:08:03,983 --> 00:08:07,904 That's why I took this waterfall and I made it under the Brooklyn Bridge. 125 00:08:12,283 --> 00:08:14,118 Because looking at that 126 00:08:14,577 --> 00:08:17,246 from Manhattan, for instance, you realize, 127 00:08:17,330 --> 00:08:19,957 "Oh, my God. The Brooklyn Bridge is so big... 128 00:08:21,792 --> 00:08:25,338 and the distance across the East River is very long." 129 00:08:27,381 --> 00:08:29,675 And once you know the size of the waterfall, 130 00:08:29,759 --> 00:08:32,803 you also know the size of your own body. 131 00:08:34,889 --> 00:08:37,099 And this is where it gets interesting, right? 132 00:08:38,643 --> 00:08:41,812 It's not so much about the mountain or the landscape and nature and so on, 133 00:08:41,896 --> 00:08:42,730 it's about us. 134 00:09:00,498 --> 00:09:01,999 [woman] Who has the courage 135 00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:04,168 to do something of this scale? 136 00:09:04,252 --> 00:09:05,378 It's enormous. 137 00:09:07,964 --> 00:09:12,426 You have to be so sure in your idea 138 00:09:12,885 --> 00:09:15,012 that you're willing to take that big risk. 139 00:09:15,805 --> 00:09:19,183 And you don't find that that often in artists. 140 00:09:24,897 --> 00:09:26,274 So, the way I always work 141 00:09:26,357 --> 00:09:29,485 is that, obviously, things start with an idea, right? 142 00:09:29,569 --> 00:09:31,779 So, an idea is like... like here, right? 143 00:09:31,862 --> 00:09:36,867 And then, immediately, you have a problem that the idea doesn't have any words. 144 00:09:37,410 --> 00:09:41,956 And there's that lovely, interesting space before you verbalize your idea. 145 00:09:42,456 --> 00:09:44,458 On top of that, the idea comes from somewhere, right? 146 00:09:44,542 --> 00:09:46,460 So, there's something before the idea. 147 00:09:46,794 --> 00:09:50,506 That's an interesting space too, right? Because where do we get ideas from? 148 00:09:52,341 --> 00:09:54,594 I get ideas when I work hard. 149 00:09:57,805 --> 00:10:01,017 Collaboration is very much at the heart of my work. 150 00:10:02,518 --> 00:10:04,228 [woman] This is the work we talked about, 151 00:10:04,312 --> 00:10:08,065 and these are the colors that we ordered. 152 00:10:08,357 --> 00:10:10,526 [Olafur] I need to give the idea language, 153 00:10:10,610 --> 00:10:12,653 and the answer to what language is 154 00:10:12,737 --> 00:10:14,488 is to maybe analyze a little bit, 155 00:10:15,281 --> 00:10:18,993 "Why on earth did I get that idea? Why am I interested in that?" 156 00:10:20,870 --> 00:10:23,372 So, this is the space where I make drawings 157 00:10:23,456 --> 00:10:25,916 because I don't know how to put words on it. 158 00:10:28,169 --> 00:10:30,171 The next step is in the language, right? 159 00:10:30,254 --> 00:10:34,216 I'm very happy to have an amazing team who take the language 160 00:10:34,592 --> 00:10:35,551 and the drawing, 161 00:10:35,843 --> 00:10:37,511 and then we start making models. 162 00:10:37,928 --> 00:10:39,847 I'll just write here, "model." 163 00:10:41,932 --> 00:10:42,933 Oh, it's great. 164 00:10:43,434 --> 00:10:47,188 And these models, they... they kind of give the idea 165 00:10:47,521 --> 00:10:50,566 and the drawing dimensionality. Suddenly, it becomes about space. 166 00:10:53,235 --> 00:10:56,781 And this is actually a work I'm doing for an exhibition in Los Angeles 167 00:10:57,365 --> 00:10:58,366 at, um... 168 00:10:58,866 --> 00:11:00,326 at a... a gallery, 169 00:11:00,868 --> 00:11:02,662 here now, in two months, 170 00:11:03,537 --> 00:11:05,289 which is about smaller works, 171 00:11:05,539 --> 00:11:07,833 things that you can put in your own house. 172 00:11:08,918 --> 00:11:10,795 It needs to be a bit more... 173 00:11:10,878 --> 00:11:12,755 -Like in a lighter... -Right. Yeah, brighter. 174 00:11:12,838 --> 00:11:14,006 -You're right. -Yeah. 175 00:11:14,715 --> 00:11:17,885 [Olafur] My role is to make sure that it's a work of art, and... 176 00:11:18,260 --> 00:11:20,513 what drives every decision is 177 00:11:20,596 --> 00:11:22,682 not how, but why. 178 00:11:24,433 --> 00:11:27,353 The team is trying to come up with a "how," 179 00:11:27,770 --> 00:11:29,063 so my role is like the... 180 00:11:29,689 --> 00:11:30,856 the "why" person. 181 00:11:30,940 --> 00:11:32,108 Should we bend it back a bit? 182 00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:33,609 Yeah. Take it back a bit. 183 00:11:33,693 --> 00:11:34,610 That's too much. 184 00:11:37,154 --> 00:11:39,156 [man] I remember early on, 185 00:11:39,490 --> 00:11:43,703 Olafur, I visited him in the studio, and he'd installed a light 186 00:11:44,161 --> 00:11:45,746 that I perceived as yellow, 187 00:11:45,830 --> 00:11:48,124 and I only understood gradually 188 00:11:48,207 --> 00:11:50,209 that I didn't see any other colors. 189 00:11:50,292 --> 00:11:52,962 All of a sudden, everything was black and white and gray. 190 00:11:54,922 --> 00:11:57,925 [Olafur] I came across a lamp that takes away all the colors. 191 00:11:58,592 --> 00:12:00,010 And I thought, "Oh, it's a miracle." 192 00:12:01,554 --> 00:12:05,599 So, this is monochromatic light. So, it looks like there is no colors. 193 00:12:05,683 --> 00:12:07,309 I mean, there is in fact no colors here, 194 00:12:07,393 --> 00:12:10,187 because there is no white light to bounce it back onto us. 195 00:12:10,563 --> 00:12:11,772 But have a look at this. 196 00:12:14,650 --> 00:12:17,611 It's the prismatic colors, it's the rainbow. 197 00:12:19,196 --> 00:12:20,906 All the colors are actually there. 198 00:12:24,493 --> 00:12:26,871 One of my very first exhibitions 199 00:12:26,954 --> 00:12:29,623 had a huge yellow room 200 00:12:30,207 --> 00:12:32,543 for people to look at their hands and go like, 201 00:12:33,878 --> 00:12:34,879 "The color's gone." 202 00:12:37,548 --> 00:12:40,259 It turned out that the absence of color 203 00:12:40,634 --> 00:12:43,637 kind of makes you more attentive to everything else. 204 00:12:44,555 --> 00:12:45,931 We kind of see more. 205 00:12:46,807 --> 00:12:48,642 But the museum director said, 206 00:12:48,726 --> 00:12:52,438 "You are not just gonna make an empty, yellow room." 207 00:12:52,730 --> 00:12:54,315 He was, like, on his knees, 208 00:12:54,398 --> 00:12:57,610 "Can't we put just one small red rose on the floor, 209 00:12:57,693 --> 00:13:00,196 so that when you look at it, it's not red anymore?" 210 00:13:01,197 --> 00:13:02,782 And I said, "No, 211 00:13:03,365 --> 00:13:05,534 because then the show is about a red rose." 212 00:13:06,869 --> 00:13:09,580 Though sometimes you get obsessed with "how" 213 00:13:09,663 --> 00:13:12,374 and then you sort of lose sight of why we're doing it. 214 00:13:18,631 --> 00:13:20,007 I kept using the yellow light. 215 00:13:20,090 --> 00:13:23,302 I did a few works with it, which were very minimal. 216 00:13:24,678 --> 00:13:28,098 And when I was working very close with a great curator at the Tate... 217 00:13:30,518 --> 00:13:32,436 I thought of, um... 218 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:33,354 the weather. 219 00:13:35,356 --> 00:13:36,857 This is now 2003, 220 00:13:37,024 --> 00:13:41,237 and for me, personally, it was where consciousness about the climate started. 221 00:13:44,114 --> 00:13:45,282 But the Weather Project, 222 00:13:45,366 --> 00:13:48,577 to do it was a long process. 223 00:13:49,870 --> 00:13:53,332 Where I actually ended up building a huge model of the space 224 00:13:53,707 --> 00:13:54,959 that I could walk in. 225 00:13:56,502 --> 00:13:58,754 It was very much about, "How can I make 226 00:13:58,838 --> 00:14:01,257 the air, or the void, or the atmosphere 227 00:14:01,674 --> 00:14:02,508 visible?" 228 00:14:02,716 --> 00:14:05,636 And that's how I got to think of fog. 229 00:14:09,348 --> 00:14:10,724 Once you look up, 230 00:14:10,933 --> 00:14:13,644 I wanted to block out the skylight. 231 00:14:16,647 --> 00:14:20,818 And then I decided to have mirrors to make the space appear even bigger. 232 00:14:23,529 --> 00:14:26,824 Then I thought, "Why don't I do just half a sphere, and the other half will be 233 00:14:27,700 --> 00:14:29,201 in the mirror, 234 00:14:30,035 --> 00:14:31,203 which also then somehow 235 00:14:31,537 --> 00:14:34,039 suggests that it is actually twice the height, 236 00:14:34,498 --> 00:14:37,334 because the eye and the brain is actually easily fooled. 237 00:14:38,752 --> 00:14:41,046 And luckily, it looked like the model. 238 00:14:46,635 --> 00:14:48,387 The monochromatic yellow light 239 00:14:48,679 --> 00:14:52,808 gives you this otherworldly sense of, you know, a kind of artificial sky. 240 00:14:54,268 --> 00:14:56,395 That's why I called it the Weather Project. 241 00:14:58,731 --> 00:15:01,692 And it was clear that people were having very different experiences. 242 00:15:01,775 --> 00:15:04,486 Some said, "Oh, my God. This is doom and gloom. 243 00:15:04,570 --> 00:15:06,155 It's about apocalypse." 244 00:15:06,780 --> 00:15:10,576 And some people said, "Oh, it's about, you know, contemplative spirituality 245 00:15:10,659 --> 00:15:12,369 and I need to do some yoga." 246 00:15:15,539 --> 00:15:18,125 And interestingly, these two versions of it 247 00:15:18,208 --> 00:15:19,543 could still be together. 248 00:15:22,630 --> 00:15:26,258 You don't have to be the same in order to share a space. 249 00:15:30,596 --> 00:15:32,973 And the yellow light, I think, was a key driver 250 00:15:33,057 --> 00:15:34,099 in that whole thing. 251 00:15:38,562 --> 00:15:41,607 [Klaus] The Weather Project marked a certain paradigm change 252 00:15:41,690 --> 00:15:44,234 in how people perceive contemporary art. 253 00:15:44,318 --> 00:15:47,863 It's something that's relevant to the way how you see the world. 254 00:15:49,740 --> 00:15:54,203 And it made him much more known in a much wider audience. 255 00:15:58,874 --> 00:16:01,001 [male director] We got it. Thank you so much. 256 00:16:01,460 --> 00:16:02,336 Cheers. 257 00:16:03,212 --> 00:16:04,088 Good. 258 00:16:04,254 --> 00:16:07,216 What do you say, "It's a wrap?" How do you say that? 259 00:16:07,299 --> 00:16:10,052 -[director] Not yet. -[Olafur] Oh, not yet. I see, okay. 260 00:16:11,303 --> 00:16:13,013 -[water rushing] -[birds squawking] 261 00:16:21,188 --> 00:16:23,315 [Olafur] So, now we're on the southern coast... 262 00:16:23,983 --> 00:16:28,320 of Iceland, and here, this is actually not too far from where my father lived. 263 00:16:30,406 --> 00:16:32,324 My father was an artist. 264 00:16:33,867 --> 00:16:36,036 I actually think my father's first painting 265 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:37,663 is sort of a black beach. 266 00:16:37,746 --> 00:16:39,164 Maybe this is here. 267 00:16:41,792 --> 00:16:44,586 -Do we have my father's films? -[man] Yeah, we do. 268 00:16:46,255 --> 00:16:49,091 [Olafur] He was a very playful artist who did many different things, 269 00:16:49,174 --> 00:16:51,135 and I guess maybe that's why he was not... 270 00:16:51,802 --> 00:16:54,263 successful as an artist. He couldn't live from it. 271 00:16:56,724 --> 00:16:57,599 That's my father. 272 00:16:57,891 --> 00:17:01,770 As a child, I was kind of scared that he had a cast of his own head. 273 00:17:02,229 --> 00:17:04,440 So, always in my father's studio, there was this... 274 00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:05,524 his head, 275 00:17:05,607 --> 00:17:07,526 sitting on a pedestal. 276 00:17:08,527 --> 00:17:10,195 My father was a little bit crazy. 277 00:17:10,946 --> 00:17:12,156 My parents were divorced, 278 00:17:12,239 --> 00:17:14,700 and probably because I was living with my mother, 279 00:17:14,783 --> 00:17:17,703 I thought that everything my father did was, like, amazing. 280 00:17:18,287 --> 00:17:19,705 Of course I wanted him 281 00:17:20,289 --> 00:17:21,248 to like me so much, 282 00:17:21,331 --> 00:17:24,460 so when I stayed with my mother, I always would send my father drawings. 283 00:17:25,335 --> 00:17:27,963 And my father would tell me to send him new drawings. 284 00:17:28,714 --> 00:17:30,424 All in all, I had pretty good support. 285 00:17:32,843 --> 00:17:35,596 But what more influenced me was maybe the fact that... 286 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,975 what I did did not necessarily have to, um... 287 00:17:40,184 --> 00:17:41,852 I don't know how to say it exactly. 288 00:17:42,686 --> 00:17:46,607 It... It didn't have to be successful in order to be quality. 289 00:17:49,777 --> 00:17:51,528 So, now that I'm a parent... 290 00:17:53,197 --> 00:17:55,324 I try to not push... 291 00:17:56,533 --> 00:17:57,367 my kids. 292 00:17:58,744 --> 00:17:59,703 It was... 293 00:18:00,662 --> 00:18:02,748 It sounds... It sort of sounds wrong today, right? 294 00:18:02,831 --> 00:18:04,792 But my parent actually did not... 295 00:18:06,251 --> 00:18:09,004 ask me to do something seriously. 296 00:18:09,546 --> 00:18:10,589 That's interesting. 297 00:18:12,174 --> 00:18:13,342 [elevator dings] 298 00:18:19,056 --> 00:18:21,100 -Is this going to LA as well? -It is. 299 00:18:21,183 --> 00:18:23,852 Okay, we have to work on the lights, uh, on these ones here. 300 00:18:23,936 --> 00:18:25,854 [man] Yeah, okay. So, we got this one. 301 00:18:27,481 --> 00:18:30,234 [Olafur] Oh, this looks really bad. It doesn't work at all. 302 00:18:30,317 --> 00:18:31,151 Okay. 303 00:18:32,194 --> 00:18:35,572 So, this one, it's really strong and really white... 304 00:18:35,656 --> 00:18:38,742 -[Olafur] Yes. -...to create some structure on the wall. 305 00:18:39,284 --> 00:18:40,577 [Olafur] That's a lot nicer now. 306 00:18:40,661 --> 00:18:42,788 -This is much better. -[man] Yeah? 307 00:18:43,914 --> 00:18:45,999 -Brita, can you turn it on? -[Brita] Sure. 308 00:18:51,922 --> 00:18:55,175 I like that the purple got so dark that it looks black. 309 00:18:55,467 --> 00:18:59,221 But then, when you look closer, it's actually very, very deep purple. 310 00:19:01,140 --> 00:19:03,058 It's almost a pity, uh... 311 00:19:05,310 --> 00:19:06,228 to send it away. 312 00:19:06,311 --> 00:19:07,146 [Brita laughs] 313 00:19:07,229 --> 00:19:09,148 It's... It's not the one I'm keeping, is it? 314 00:19:09,231 --> 00:19:11,358 [Brita] No, no. It's for the LA show. 315 00:19:11,441 --> 00:19:12,609 Oh, horrible. 316 00:19:16,113 --> 00:19:18,824 [Olafur] What makes a space tolerable, more inclusive? 317 00:19:22,494 --> 00:19:24,413 The body is a good indicator. 318 00:19:33,172 --> 00:19:34,590 Who knows about the body? 319 00:19:36,008 --> 00:19:36,842 Dancers. 320 00:19:38,844 --> 00:19:41,180 I believe it was '83, 321 00:19:41,805 --> 00:19:44,308 maybe '82, actually, so it was very early. 322 00:19:46,602 --> 00:19:51,064 In a store window, there was these people mimicking a mannequin, 323 00:19:51,356 --> 00:19:52,858 and then they would move like a robot. 324 00:19:58,780 --> 00:20:01,241 It really totally and utterly blew my mind. 325 00:20:02,284 --> 00:20:05,078 And it was as if I had seen the light. 326 00:20:05,162 --> 00:20:06,205 [laughs] 327 00:20:07,581 --> 00:20:09,917 Just like a whole new world just opened for me. 328 00:20:10,918 --> 00:20:13,086 And I could not stop moving like a robot. 329 00:20:17,758 --> 00:20:20,135 So, because I had started so early, 330 00:20:20,761 --> 00:20:22,971 by the time it became more mainstream fashion, 331 00:20:23,055 --> 00:20:24,556 me and a few other guys, 332 00:20:25,557 --> 00:20:27,809 we had become quite good at what we're doing. 333 00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:33,440 We danced in shopping malls, 334 00:20:33,857 --> 00:20:35,609 clubs, and discotheques. 335 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:39,446 But at the end of the day, it gave me a lot of self-confidence 336 00:20:39,529 --> 00:20:43,116 and it taught me a lot about physicality and space. 337 00:20:45,118 --> 00:20:47,996 Dancing totally had a significant impact on me. 338 00:20:50,374 --> 00:20:54,211 I've become very interested in movements and geometry. 339 00:20:57,631 --> 00:20:59,800 I'm just... I'm just working with this mirror here. 340 00:20:59,883 --> 00:21:03,720 And it's so nice. It's a round mirror and it looks like a tunnel, right? 341 00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:04,930 So... 342 00:21:05,138 --> 00:21:07,140 So, check this out. So, when I do... 343 00:21:09,559 --> 00:21:13,188 Do you see? And now I'll show you. It's a slow mirror. I'm just going to... 344 00:21:13,522 --> 00:21:14,564 Hang on. Hang on. 345 00:21:17,025 --> 00:21:19,903 Do you see? So, the... the time sequence... 346 00:21:20,654 --> 00:21:21,655 can be off. 347 00:21:22,322 --> 00:21:23,282 Here's on. 348 00:21:27,536 --> 00:21:28,578 And here's off. 349 00:21:28,912 --> 00:21:30,789 So, I like... I like the fact that... 350 00:21:31,498 --> 00:21:32,582 Oh, let me try again. 351 00:21:32,749 --> 00:21:34,960 That I can slow things down in the mirror. 352 00:21:37,713 --> 00:21:39,548 But obviously, the truth is that... 353 00:21:40,173 --> 00:21:42,009 it's actually not a round mirror. 354 00:21:43,135 --> 00:21:45,887 It's an ellipse mirror, and it's an experiment, like, 355 00:21:45,971 --> 00:21:47,139 with anamorphic shapes. 356 00:21:47,222 --> 00:21:49,016 Like, if you look at an ellipse... 357 00:21:50,309 --> 00:21:51,143 like this, 358 00:21:51,435 --> 00:21:52,644 from a certain angle, 359 00:21:53,145 --> 00:21:55,314 it appears to be circular. 360 00:21:56,023 --> 00:21:58,275 This has been used very often, and I'm very interested. 361 00:21:58,358 --> 00:22:00,319 This is what I've been experimenting with. 362 00:22:04,906 --> 00:22:08,827 I'm very much interested in ideas about space and structure. 363 00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:15,167 There's always a mix between nature and design. 364 00:22:19,671 --> 00:22:22,299 I got interested in people like Buckminster Fuller. 365 00:22:22,758 --> 00:22:25,594 [man] His geodesic dome has proved the most efficient means 366 00:22:25,677 --> 00:22:27,804 of enclosing space yet devised. 367 00:22:28,805 --> 00:22:30,474 [Olafur] And I came across, in Iceland, 368 00:22:30,557 --> 00:22:32,809 a guy who actually had known Buckminster Fuller. 369 00:22:33,143 --> 00:22:34,770 His name was Einar Thorsteinn. 370 00:22:35,645 --> 00:22:38,982 And I wanted to do a sculpture that was inspired by Buckminster Fuller. 371 00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:43,278 And Einar said, "Oh, I know the mathematical formula for it." 372 00:22:44,613 --> 00:22:47,449 He came and worked here for 15 years in the studio. 373 00:22:48,784 --> 00:22:51,453 So, that's how I got started working 374 00:22:51,536 --> 00:22:53,205 with scientists and architects. 375 00:22:54,915 --> 00:22:56,917 And in that way, it just grew very gradually, 376 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,710 a little bit like my career. 377 00:23:03,757 --> 00:23:05,217 Just like with the natural phenomena, 378 00:23:05,300 --> 00:23:09,888 my interest in geometry was also about experiencing the world. 379 00:23:14,142 --> 00:23:15,310 So, in the studio... 380 00:23:16,228 --> 00:23:18,146 we work so much with geometry and... 381 00:23:19,481 --> 00:23:23,235 a number of spatial systems derived from nature. 382 00:23:23,318 --> 00:23:26,321 This is one of them, for instance. This is basalt columns. 383 00:23:27,864 --> 00:23:29,491 This... This basalt rock actually comes 384 00:23:29,574 --> 00:23:31,535 from having a volcano underneath a glacier, 385 00:23:31,618 --> 00:23:34,746 so the rapid cooling sort of crystallizes the rock. 386 00:23:36,706 --> 00:23:39,543 When I was first invited to participate 387 00:23:40,419 --> 00:23:42,212 in designing or shaping Harpa, 388 00:23:42,295 --> 00:23:45,841 which is the conference and concert hall in... in Reykjavík... 389 00:23:47,175 --> 00:23:50,095 the people involved wanted a reference to Iceland. 390 00:23:52,055 --> 00:23:55,892 We in the studio were working with geometry and nature and packing. 391 00:23:55,976 --> 00:23:59,104 And obviously, these basalt rocks and how they crystallize 392 00:23:59,813 --> 00:24:03,817 is a very great way of showing how nature organizes space. 393 00:24:06,278 --> 00:24:09,990 Einar Thorsteinn did some amazing research on five-fold symmetry. 394 00:24:10,615 --> 00:24:12,659 But more importantly, we also then developed it 395 00:24:12,742 --> 00:24:15,036 into an architectural structural shape. 396 00:24:18,748 --> 00:24:20,292 We built a space frame. 397 00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:23,462 They're very stiff, they're very strong. 398 00:24:24,045 --> 00:24:26,465 And essentially, we used very little material 399 00:24:26,715 --> 00:24:28,633 to create a very strong facade, 400 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:30,719 which holds up the roof, for instance. 401 00:24:32,554 --> 00:24:34,598 The shaping of the building was actually 402 00:24:34,681 --> 00:24:37,184 to kind of amplify the ephemeral qualities. 403 00:24:38,018 --> 00:24:40,061 The reason why tilting the facade, 404 00:24:40,228 --> 00:24:41,771 just like... over, 405 00:24:41,855 --> 00:24:43,940 is because when the winter light comes, 406 00:24:44,483 --> 00:24:46,485 it... it works like a mirror and it just... 407 00:24:46,943 --> 00:24:50,322 brings the sun onto this area here in the front, just a little bit. 408 00:24:53,241 --> 00:24:55,619 And the ceiling brings light into the space, 409 00:24:56,411 --> 00:24:58,413 bounces the light back onto the floor. 410 00:25:00,165 --> 00:25:02,542 And the idea was that you could sort of activate 411 00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:06,421 the view from the outside and make the building seem more alive. 412 00:25:09,382 --> 00:25:11,927 We used something which started in mathematics, 413 00:25:12,135 --> 00:25:15,180 became about nature, which then became about engineering, 414 00:25:15,263 --> 00:25:19,017 which then became about a skin for a concert and conference house. 415 00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:22,354 So, it was an amazing process. 416 00:25:26,441 --> 00:25:30,195 So, after Harpa, I said, "Let's make an architectural company." 417 00:25:33,490 --> 00:25:36,034 -Is this also steel? -[man] Yes. And everything is open, 418 00:25:36,117 --> 00:25:38,662 everything is exposed to rain and water, 419 00:25:38,745 --> 00:25:41,289 so it's actually like parts of ships. 420 00:25:41,373 --> 00:25:43,124 [Olafur] That's so cool. I love it. 421 00:25:44,209 --> 00:25:46,628 There's actually the studio in the studio. 422 00:25:52,634 --> 00:25:56,471 So, architecture has become a part of what we do. 423 00:25:57,556 --> 00:26:00,100 And the building we just recently opened in Denmark 424 00:26:00,183 --> 00:26:01,518 is called Fjordenhus, 425 00:26:01,601 --> 00:26:03,687 because it's a... it's a hus, it's a house, 426 00:26:03,770 --> 00:26:05,105 that stands in the fjord. 427 00:26:08,275 --> 00:26:10,944 It's a building that looks complex, 428 00:26:11,027 --> 00:26:13,863 but, actually, how it's built up is very simple. 429 00:26:13,947 --> 00:26:15,574 So, this model here, 430 00:26:15,657 --> 00:26:19,828 the skin is actually penetrated by this negative volume here. 431 00:26:19,911 --> 00:26:22,289 So, you see, this one fits in here... 432 00:26:23,123 --> 00:26:25,083 and on this side here. 433 00:26:25,166 --> 00:26:26,543 And that organizes, then, 434 00:26:26,626 --> 00:26:29,296 these kind of parabolic openings, 435 00:26:29,379 --> 00:26:31,548 and these kind of spaces are then used 436 00:26:31,631 --> 00:26:34,718 whether as balconies, as open spaces, or as offices. 437 00:26:37,137 --> 00:26:39,514 [Olafur] If you take a picture of a curved wall, 438 00:26:39,681 --> 00:26:41,016 it kind of becomes flat. 439 00:26:42,142 --> 00:26:45,186 But if you move, the curved wall changes perspective a lot, 440 00:26:45,812 --> 00:26:48,648 and everything becomes explicit. 441 00:27:00,243 --> 00:27:04,331 I think the overlap between art and architecture can make both better. 442 00:27:07,208 --> 00:27:10,045 These are the technical drawings for the LA gallery show. 443 00:27:10,503 --> 00:27:13,131 So, we don't mind having a mirror here on the wall, 444 00:27:13,214 --> 00:27:14,841 and then, it ends with the-- 445 00:27:14,924 --> 00:27:18,011 Yeah, but maybe we just move it... Now we just move it over a little bit. 446 00:27:18,094 --> 00:27:19,679 Yeah. So, let's put the work... 447 00:27:19,971 --> 00:27:20,847 in the middle. 448 00:27:22,641 --> 00:27:24,601 Let's try it. This one we might not need, 449 00:27:24,684 --> 00:27:27,437 because it's just much nicer, the compass in this space alone, 450 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:28,688 and then this and this. 451 00:27:28,938 --> 00:27:30,607 Okay, great. So, that's it then. 452 00:27:33,234 --> 00:27:34,361 I'll just grab my pen. 453 00:27:35,987 --> 00:27:38,698 I was always interested in perception. 454 00:27:42,369 --> 00:27:44,788 There's plenty of examples, like, historically speaking, 455 00:27:44,871 --> 00:27:47,374 of how we choose to use our eyes. 456 00:27:50,001 --> 00:27:51,378 The first mirrors in the world 457 00:27:51,461 --> 00:27:53,213 were made of black obsidian. 458 00:27:53,296 --> 00:27:55,215 Then people would go through the parks, 459 00:27:55,298 --> 00:27:58,051 and in the mirror, they would see the back. 460 00:27:59,219 --> 00:28:02,430 You have the future in front of you, but if you hold up a little mirror, 461 00:28:02,514 --> 00:28:05,558 you can see where you came from, you can see the past. 462 00:28:08,853 --> 00:28:10,605 When I was a younger artist, 463 00:28:11,272 --> 00:28:13,108 I'm still relatively young, right? 464 00:28:13,191 --> 00:28:14,693 But when I was a younger artist, 465 00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:17,987 I moved from Denmark to Germany. 466 00:28:20,323 --> 00:28:23,702 And I wouldn't say I was easygoing, because I literally gave up everything... 467 00:28:24,911 --> 00:28:26,496 to pursue what I wanted to do. 468 00:28:28,665 --> 00:28:29,999 [firework whistling] 469 00:28:30,709 --> 00:28:33,253 [newscaster] Though the new year began here in the two Germanys 470 00:28:33,336 --> 00:28:37,048 with these remarkable sights, unthinkable such a short time ago. 471 00:28:38,466 --> 00:28:40,593 [Olafur] It was in '89... 472 00:28:41,428 --> 00:28:43,388 [male reporter] The sledge... when it went up. 473 00:28:43,471 --> 00:28:45,390 [Olafur] The Berlin Wall came down. 474 00:28:47,642 --> 00:28:49,686 [reporter] Even the East Germans seemed exhilarated... 475 00:28:49,769 --> 00:28:53,523 [Olafur] Me and a fellow student, we rented a car and we drove to Berlin. 476 00:28:59,821 --> 00:29:03,283 And suddenly, you just see all these people from East coming through. 477 00:29:15,754 --> 00:29:16,880 It was very touching. 478 00:29:18,339 --> 00:29:19,966 I mean, it was difficult to understand... 479 00:29:21,050 --> 00:29:23,970 to be honest, the scope of what we were actually seeing. 480 00:29:28,808 --> 00:29:33,021 How do I make what is abstract tangible? 481 00:29:34,814 --> 00:29:37,317 It's the process of narrowing it down to the bone. 482 00:29:40,945 --> 00:29:42,697 But when I moved to Germany, 483 00:29:42,781 --> 00:29:46,618 I thought I was going out into the world to be an artist like everybody else. 484 00:29:47,076 --> 00:29:48,244 But they were so good, 485 00:29:48,328 --> 00:29:49,913 and I was like, "Oh... 486 00:29:50,705 --> 00:29:51,873 I'm never gonna make it." 487 00:29:52,999 --> 00:29:55,376 I said, "If I'm gonna somehow say something, 488 00:29:55,877 --> 00:29:57,212 I better be myself." 489 00:30:08,264 --> 00:30:12,268 I wanted to hand over the responsibility for experiencing the artwork 490 00:30:12,602 --> 00:30:13,812 to the participant. 491 00:30:21,277 --> 00:30:24,155 A reality projector is a very large space 492 00:30:24,239 --> 00:30:25,990 and has a kind of balcony you enter here. 493 00:30:26,074 --> 00:30:28,159 So, this is a person in the space, right? 494 00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:31,371 And in the space, the ceiling was these enormous, 495 00:30:31,454 --> 00:30:33,331 uh, triangulated trusses. 496 00:30:35,625 --> 00:30:38,044 So, I thought, "Maybe it would be possible 497 00:30:38,127 --> 00:30:41,589 to expose the structure that holds up the ceiling." 498 00:30:43,091 --> 00:30:45,969 We started putting up lamps up here. 499 00:30:46,386 --> 00:30:48,096 And then you would have a shadow, 500 00:30:48,763 --> 00:30:52,183 which essentially is the beam from the ceiling. 501 00:30:53,393 --> 00:30:55,395 And it would move if we move the light. 502 00:30:55,770 --> 00:30:56,771 So that was kind of nice. 503 00:30:56,855 --> 00:30:59,691 And if we'd have two lights that moved in different directions, 504 00:30:59,774 --> 00:31:02,360 the shadows moved... Suddenly, there was kind of a movie. 505 00:31:07,156 --> 00:31:10,535 [Ai] His temptation to integrate the architecture, 506 00:31:10,618 --> 00:31:13,830 I think is a very intelligent approach 507 00:31:13,913 --> 00:31:16,291 and maximizes the possibility. 508 00:31:22,171 --> 00:31:24,799 [Olafur] You see, don't forget this is a person here, right? 509 00:31:24,883 --> 00:31:27,468 [high-pitched voice] Hello. This is a little person. 510 00:31:28,261 --> 00:31:30,138 [normal voice] So, this was enormous. 511 00:31:30,555 --> 00:31:32,015 It was very abstract. 512 00:31:34,726 --> 00:31:38,104 There's something very dreamy to see huge shadows moving. 513 00:31:40,481 --> 00:31:42,609 Something very sort of meditative. 514 00:31:45,361 --> 00:31:47,447 And I thought maybe we should add sound. 515 00:31:47,906 --> 00:31:49,157 [thudding and clattering] 516 00:31:53,494 --> 00:31:54,954 [deep piano chords play] 517 00:31:58,708 --> 00:32:02,545 My artist friend Yanchi recorded the delivery of a piano 518 00:32:03,087 --> 00:32:05,423 and the sound of the construction of a piano. 519 00:32:05,506 --> 00:32:06,341 [thud] 520 00:32:07,342 --> 00:32:08,760 [clattering] 521 00:32:10,178 --> 00:32:11,387 Some people saw... 522 00:32:11,804 --> 00:32:13,890 city cranes, a harbor, 523 00:32:14,265 --> 00:32:15,558 modern systems. 524 00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:19,562 And some people saw abstract paintings, and color films, 525 00:32:19,646 --> 00:32:21,731 and more like psychedelic sort of stuff. 526 00:32:26,194 --> 00:32:29,447 Underneath this idea of empowering the spectator, 527 00:32:29,948 --> 00:32:32,158 there is something which is very fundamental. 528 00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:37,872 Museums make huge explanations to make sure that people get it, 529 00:32:38,122 --> 00:32:40,375 but you sometimes end up with a feeling where, 530 00:32:40,875 --> 00:32:44,379 "I must be really stupid since they have to over-explain everything." 531 00:32:47,173 --> 00:32:50,385 So, when I say the viewer of a work of art 532 00:32:50,677 --> 00:32:53,721 is smart enough to co-produce the narrative, 533 00:32:54,055 --> 00:32:57,684 it gives the viewer the sense of saying, "I'm actually good enough." 534 00:33:05,191 --> 00:33:08,152 When I was small, I very much liked to draw. 535 00:33:11,739 --> 00:33:13,574 And my father would typically just 536 00:33:13,658 --> 00:33:16,911 tell me to do some doodles on the paper, just like kind of... 537 00:33:16,995 --> 00:33:19,747 you know, like, just like swing the pen around on the paper 538 00:33:19,831 --> 00:33:22,166 and then just fill out the fields. 539 00:33:23,418 --> 00:33:26,295 Of course, it'd just be abstract. It's just an abstract drawing. 540 00:33:28,548 --> 00:33:31,050 So, the exercise is actually the imagination, 541 00:33:31,134 --> 00:33:32,301 or the, you know, fantasy, 542 00:33:32,385 --> 00:33:34,679 and to sort of see things that are invisible. 543 00:33:34,762 --> 00:33:37,306 So, let me just show you the cat here. [humming] 544 00:33:37,724 --> 00:33:39,017 There's an eye here. 545 00:33:40,351 --> 00:33:42,020 There's another eye here. 546 00:33:42,645 --> 00:33:45,356 Maybe this is, you know, the cat nose. 547 00:33:45,732 --> 00:33:47,191 Kind of the other way around. 548 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:48,317 That's fine. 549 00:33:48,526 --> 00:33:50,737 Then we have... I can put in... 550 00:33:52,238 --> 00:33:55,324 Ah, there's an ear here, there's another ear here, yeah? 551 00:33:56,451 --> 00:33:58,619 So, see? So, gradually, my cat... 552 00:33:59,245 --> 00:34:00,747 has a kind of a leonine. 553 00:34:02,832 --> 00:34:06,419 When I talk to kids about, you know, "Can you draw a car or something?” 554 00:34:06,919 --> 00:34:09,630 I really try to emphasize it's not really about the car. 555 00:34:09,714 --> 00:34:11,007 It's more about, "You have... 556 00:34:11,090 --> 00:34:13,509 Do you have the fantasy to actually see the car?" 557 00:34:14,886 --> 00:34:15,720 Let's go on. 558 00:34:17,638 --> 00:34:20,683 Cheers. It's just that I didn't do that since I was a child. 559 00:34:25,271 --> 00:34:26,773 So, as my studio evolved, 560 00:34:26,981 --> 00:34:30,401 I also started working more with advocacy groups. 561 00:34:31,527 --> 00:34:33,988 And the studio today actually is... is a kind of a mix 562 00:34:34,072 --> 00:34:36,199 between the normal artwork, 563 00:34:36,282 --> 00:34:39,160 but we're also involved with the politics somehow. 564 00:34:40,703 --> 00:34:42,330 Turning thinking into doing. 565 00:34:42,413 --> 00:34:44,540 [indistinct conversation] 566 00:34:47,085 --> 00:34:48,878 [Olafur] So, I thought I should see 567 00:34:48,961 --> 00:34:52,131 if what I have learned in art could be applied onto, for instance, 568 00:34:52,215 --> 00:34:53,841 a kind of a more sort of, um... 569 00:34:53,925 --> 00:34:55,259 advocacy project. 570 00:34:55,468 --> 00:34:58,179 And this is how the project Ice Watch came along. 571 00:35:03,059 --> 00:35:05,645 How do we make the climate explicit 572 00:35:06,187 --> 00:35:08,106 and turn thinking into doing? 573 00:35:10,233 --> 00:35:12,860 And the Ice Watch project is very straightforward. 574 00:35:12,944 --> 00:35:15,780 It's glacial ice from Greenland, 575 00:35:16,155 --> 00:35:18,407 from the glacier that is disappearing, 576 00:35:18,825 --> 00:35:19,659 put on the street. 577 00:35:32,421 --> 00:35:33,798 People walk up to it and... 578 00:35:34,465 --> 00:35:35,925 see it, listen to it, touch it. 579 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:39,846 This is what is melting and disappearing, 580 00:35:39,929 --> 00:35:41,889 and it was melting right then. Then, of course... 581 00:35:42,849 --> 00:35:44,517 this is what we're talking about. 582 00:35:47,979 --> 00:35:50,481 Then they would put their hand on it and they go, 583 00:35:50,565 --> 00:35:51,774 [gasps] "It's cold." 584 00:35:52,900 --> 00:35:55,862 And of course everybody knows ice is cold because it's ice, right? 585 00:35:55,945 --> 00:35:59,615 But behavioral change is much more emotional. 586 00:36:04,328 --> 00:36:05,329 [Carol] It's so simple... 587 00:36:06,497 --> 00:36:09,000 but that simplicity is deceptive. 588 00:36:09,959 --> 00:36:13,337 Because it's going to disappear, and you know it's gonna disappear. 589 00:36:15,173 --> 00:36:17,008 That he could create something so beautiful 590 00:36:17,091 --> 00:36:18,926 that would conjure that unthinkable thought 591 00:36:19,468 --> 00:36:21,387 is the mark of a truly great artist. 592 00:36:26,767 --> 00:36:28,644 [Olafur] This is such a great view down here. 593 00:36:28,728 --> 00:36:29,937 [woman] Oh, yeah. 594 00:36:34,358 --> 00:36:35,193 It is. 595 00:36:35,985 --> 00:36:38,988 When I was here half a life ago, 596 00:36:39,071 --> 00:36:40,615 [chuckles] there was, um, 597 00:36:40,698 --> 00:36:42,200 you know, ice coming down, 598 00:36:42,283 --> 00:36:45,912 moving down this water here, as I remember it. Yeah. 599 00:36:45,995 --> 00:36:48,164 -[Olafur] It... It broke off? -[Josefine] Yes, yes, yes. 600 00:36:48,247 --> 00:36:50,750 -It did. But there is still beauty. -Yeah. Yeah. 601 00:36:50,833 --> 00:36:54,545 You know, we look at this, and I think the acknowledgment of that 602 00:36:55,213 --> 00:36:58,633 is important to keep prosperous and hopeful. 603 00:36:58,716 --> 00:36:59,550 [Olafur] Yeah. 604 00:36:59,634 --> 00:37:01,010 That piece of ice... 605 00:37:01,093 --> 00:37:02,595 -Maybe we can grab that. -Yeah. 606 00:37:02,929 --> 00:37:05,223 -Let's try it. Yeah. -Let's see if we can grab that ice. 607 00:37:08,893 --> 00:37:09,977 [Olafur] We saved it. 608 00:37:10,811 --> 00:37:12,063 -So... -[Josefine chuckles] 609 00:37:12,146 --> 00:37:14,065 -Now we just need a freezer. -[Josefine sighs] 610 00:37:14,148 --> 00:37:15,024 [Josefine sniffs] 611 00:37:15,107 --> 00:37:16,859 -[Josefine] Yeah, a big one. -[Olafur] So... 612 00:37:16,943 --> 00:37:18,819 -That's a nice work of art. -It is. 613 00:37:18,903 --> 00:37:21,322 -Or a nice poem, for that matter. -[laughs] Yeah. 614 00:37:21,405 --> 00:37:22,573 [Josefine chuckles] 615 00:37:22,907 --> 00:37:23,741 Yeah. 616 00:37:23,950 --> 00:37:25,993 -[Olafur] So, are these bubbles? -[Josefine] Yeah. 617 00:37:26,077 --> 00:37:28,746 [Olafur] So, the air in the bubble, when it comes out, 618 00:37:28,913 --> 00:37:31,123 it's the air from 5,000 years ago. 619 00:37:31,207 --> 00:37:33,501 I mean, what is beautiful is that as it actually melts... 620 00:37:33,584 --> 00:37:34,794 -Yeah. -...it kind of pops. 621 00:37:34,877 --> 00:37:35,711 [Josefine] Yeah. 622 00:37:35,795 --> 00:37:38,589 So, if we would be very quiet and sit and wait a little bit, 623 00:37:38,923 --> 00:37:40,758 the ice would start speaking to us. 624 00:37:40,841 --> 00:37:42,385 It would pop like popcorn. 625 00:37:43,177 --> 00:37:46,180 So, it's not, like, disappearing, it's actually arriving. 626 00:37:46,639 --> 00:37:48,432 It's about being... being present. 627 00:37:51,227 --> 00:37:54,814 If we want to change something about the climate, it needs to be made explicit, 628 00:37:54,897 --> 00:37:56,232 it needs to be physical. 629 00:37:56,315 --> 00:38:00,194 And this is what culture is, right? Culture is, to a large extent, physical. 630 00:38:00,528 --> 00:38:03,406 It's... It's... It's stuff out in the world. 631 00:38:07,910 --> 00:38:09,662 I have worked so much with light. 632 00:38:11,247 --> 00:38:13,708 Light is so fundamental to everything, right? 633 00:38:17,545 --> 00:38:19,880 As I also started traveling, I realized that... 634 00:38:20,715 --> 00:38:22,967 every eighth person in the world 635 00:38:23,384 --> 00:38:25,720 does not have access to energy. Like, to light. 636 00:38:28,222 --> 00:38:30,057 So, this is actually the little sun. 637 00:38:30,641 --> 00:38:33,477 And there's a solar panel here on the back, so... 638 00:38:34,145 --> 00:38:36,105 when I hold it up like that, I'm actually charging, 639 00:38:36,188 --> 00:38:37,898 then I have light for the whole evening. 640 00:38:38,232 --> 00:38:40,985 Now, I have sustainable energy right here in the palm of my hand, 641 00:38:41,068 --> 00:38:43,738 and I... I call that holding hands with the sun. 642 00:38:46,699 --> 00:38:48,993 It's about the right to have access to light. 643 00:38:49,243 --> 00:38:51,620 No one will ever have to sit in darkness. 644 00:38:54,123 --> 00:38:57,752 We sell this at a higher price, knowing museum stores are online. 645 00:38:58,127 --> 00:39:02,798 And the profit from that is then driving lamps into off-grid areas. 646 00:39:04,300 --> 00:39:05,343 In those areas, 647 00:39:05,426 --> 00:39:08,554 you would normally buy 100 milliliters of kerosene a week. 648 00:39:08,637 --> 00:39:11,682 That is money which was then spent on something else. 649 00:39:11,766 --> 00:39:15,227 It went into the economy. It didn't go out and into the oil industry. 650 00:39:24,487 --> 00:39:26,947 It's important to talk about the climate 651 00:39:27,323 --> 00:39:30,284 in a language that is not always about doom and gloom. 652 00:39:31,118 --> 00:39:34,246 It's very important to design things that has a positive narrative. 653 00:39:39,168 --> 00:39:42,463 You can turn thinking into doing. You can. 654 00:40:04,110 --> 00:40:07,947 The gallery that I work with has opened up a space here in Los Angeles and... 655 00:40:08,447 --> 00:40:11,158 it's exciting for me because this is my first show here in this space 656 00:40:11,242 --> 00:40:13,160 and the first time I show these works. 657 00:40:20,459 --> 00:40:21,335 I love it. 658 00:40:21,836 --> 00:40:23,379 This has turned out amazing. 659 00:40:23,754 --> 00:40:27,383 Somehow, I don't remember it looking like this in the studio. 660 00:40:31,762 --> 00:40:32,763 [mumbles indistinctly] 661 00:40:32,847 --> 00:40:36,100 It's good to make art with mirrors, so I can check my hair. 662 00:40:58,831 --> 00:41:01,792 Art is the world's ability 663 00:41:02,251 --> 00:41:06,172 to investigate and have an intimate relationship with itself. 664 00:41:08,549 --> 00:41:12,470 Gerhard Richter, the German painter, said, "Art is the highest form of hope." 665 00:41:16,932 --> 00:41:20,394 At the bottom of my heart, I love making art. 666 00:41:29,570 --> 00:41:31,947 So, why are you watching this episode? 667 00:41:32,156 --> 00:41:33,741 I mean, I'm very happy you are, 668 00:41:33,824 --> 00:41:36,702 but it's also important that you think about yourself, right? 669 00:41:36,785 --> 00:41:38,287 What is in it for you? 670 00:41:39,413 --> 00:41:41,081 What are you actually doing here? 671 00:41:42,833 --> 00:41:46,128 It's about the ability to see something. 672 00:41:50,382 --> 00:41:54,094 It's incredibly important that we do not take our surroundings for granted. 673 00:41:56,096 --> 00:41:59,141 To realize I can see more, should I make the effort. 674 00:42:03,395 --> 00:42:04,230 For instance, 675 00:42:04,313 --> 00:42:06,690 depending on where you are in the world, 676 00:42:07,191 --> 00:42:09,276 the quality of the daylight is very different. 677 00:42:11,362 --> 00:42:13,322 This is how the light looks in Berlin. 678 00:42:15,741 --> 00:42:18,285 So, this is the amazing light here in Los Angeles. 679 00:42:18,661 --> 00:42:21,539 It's, of course, very famous, just like the traffic is. 680 00:42:21,622 --> 00:42:23,499 -We're standing on the street... -[horn honks] 681 00:42:23,582 --> 00:42:24,625 ...in front of the gallery. 682 00:42:27,795 --> 00:42:30,798 This is the color of the daylight here in Iceland, 683 00:42:30,881 --> 00:42:32,758 right... right outside of my studio. 684 00:42:33,259 --> 00:42:35,261 Even what we take for granted, such as, 685 00:42:35,844 --> 00:42:37,346 "Oh, this is just sunlight," 686 00:42:37,429 --> 00:42:38,806 is actually very different. 687 00:43:07,459 --> 00:43:10,129 Once you see that reality is actually relative... 688 00:43:11,630 --> 00:43:14,300 it is more likely to also change. 689 00:43:16,969 --> 00:43:18,929 So, north is exactly over there. 690 00:43:20,639 --> 00:43:22,099 Berlin, where my studio is... 691 00:43:22,850 --> 00:43:23,684 Right? 692 00:43:23,767 --> 00:43:25,644 ...is there. 693 00:43:25,728 --> 00:43:26,562 [laughs] 694 00:43:27,938 --> 00:43:30,357 So, we are not lost after all.