Olafur Eliasson Ice Watch Analysis

In the “Ice Watch,” Olafur Eliasson uses a whopping one hundred tons of ice directly cut from icebergs from Copenhagen, Denmark, Olafur’s hometown. He strategically puts twelve ice blocks in Greenland, City Hall Square, Copenhagen; The ice pieces were imported in four refrigerated containers to Denmark before being left to melt in the city halls plaza. Here is where the people witnessed first hand the death of arctic ice. Olafur uses this “sculpture” to strike the effects of global warming; he emphasizes that the increase of greenhouses gasses cause arctic ice to melt. Frank Jensen, Copenhagens mayor and the Danish Minister of Climate stressed that to prevent the melting of Arctic; we must reduce our use of coal and use our electricity cautiously

and drive fuel efficient vehicles. Olafur Eliasson uses the natural elements such as ice to symbolize and expose the truth of climate change to the public.

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist who was born in 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark (Encyclopædia Britannica). Olafur creates large-scale sculptures with the employment of water, light, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's perspective. For more than a decade, Olafur Eliasson has been creating art on a grand scale by recreating the sensory effects of the natural landscape, often inspired by his Icelandic homeland. Olafur uses the installation of natural elements to promote environmentalism and ecology through his art. For example, during winter in 2003, two million observers gathered around the Tate Modern in London, England. The observers sunbathed under Eliasson’s large-scale sculpture: The Weather Project, a massive “replica” sun constructed of 200 low-pressure lamps, mirrors, and mist, which was installed in the museum's Turbine Hall (Lippens). By developing the most basic lighting techniques to evoke a sublime environment, Eliasson’s creation received as fair amount of critical acclaim and popularity, as well as a reminder that we revolve around a massive fireball.
Olafur Eliasson spent his majority of his childhood in Denmark and Iceland, where the unique terrain interested him in the creation of naturalistic art.

From 1989 to 1995 he studied Fine Arts at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark (Encyclopædia Britannica). He soon began to receive international recognition in the early 1990s for his groundbreaking sculptures and installations that employed the illusory tools along with the intentionally simple mechanics (Lippens). Later in his career his split his time between Copenhagen and his studio in Berlin; this is where his projects were conceptualized with the help of engineers, architects, and assistants. Eliasson's interest in the natural phenomena led him in creating works that simultaneously sparked and challenged the senses. Such as, In Your Strange Certainty Still Kept (Wagner), a sculpture using droplets of water in which become frozen in midair through the use of perforated hoses and the use of strobe lights (Wagner). This sculpture makes the use of water to represent simultaneously snow or a thunderstorm, hence the strobe lights. In addition, in his sculpture Room of One Color (Wagner), he flooded a room with water and added a saturated yellow light in order to perceive all of the colors as

black.
In addition, Olafur Eliasson increased his determination to create sculptures particularly focused on built environments and site-specific works. In 2003, he represented Denmark in the 50th Venice Biennale with The Blind Pavilion, an architectural structure made of alternating opaque and transparent glass in which created a disorientation reflections for visitors walking through the sculpture. Also, in the same year in the Tate Modern in London, he exhibited The Weather Project, a fifty-foot in diameter orb resembling a dark afternoon made of 200 low light yellow lamps, diffusing screen, fog, and mirrors. During its five months of installation, more than 3 million spectators came to absorb the sun's artificial heat, interacting with the built environment as if it were an artificial work of nature. With these projects, Olafur Eliasson kept a persistent emphasis on the critical role of the viewer in the materialization of the artwork, such that the experience gained, varied, and ultimately dependent on its audience.
Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-born artist who creates sculptures that emphasize nature and the environment. He uses his art and sculptures as a tool to bring public awareness about the harm were doing to the environment and planet earth. Ultamiley, he is trying to bring public awareness to climate change. In contrast, artist Robert Adams creates similar works to those of Olafur, they both create their work for the purpose; typically they send a message to the public with their art. Also, artists Ursula Von Rydingsvard and Andy Goldsworthy create their art for other reasons, both of these artists capture the beautiful essence of the ever-changing environment. Although these artists seem to be different from each other, they all share the similar interest of the environment and ecology.