Thursday, March 28, 2024

Olafur Eliasson and Little Sun Design New Sustainable Lamps for Historic Tivoli Gardens

Copenhagen, Denmark — Tivoli Gardens, the historic amusement park in central Copenhagen, has entered into a new collaboration with acclaimed Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and his award-winning Little Sun project. In 2017, a new lamp, designed by Eliasson and powered by sustainable energy, will shine at Tivoli Gardens and a special Tivoli Little Sun lamp will be available in the shop for visitors to take home.

For decades, Olafur Eliasson has awed the public around the world with his diverse artworks and large-scale installations, which often employ light, fog, and other ephemeral materials. Among Eliasson’s permanent artistic landmarks in Denmark are Your rainbow panorama, a 150-metre circular, coloured-glass walkway situated atop ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, and, in Copenhagen, the Opera house chandeliersand Cirkelbroen (The circle bridge).

After a series of creative meetings between Eliasson, the Little Sun team and Tivoli’s design office, Tivoli Gardens is happy to announce the beginning of an exciting collaboration on the development of a new signature lamp for the park, which will enhance Tivoli’s already spectacular scenery, and a special Tivoli Little Sun lamp that guests can take home with them.

Tivoli Gardens’ CEO Lars Liebst is pleased that in the near future a new light will appear at Tivoli Gardens in central Copenhagen: “Olafur Eliasson is an artist whose designs connect people and create a sense of wonder. These are also two of the secrets behind Tivoli’s success and important parts of our DNA. I am convinced that by joining forces Tivoli and Eliasson will be able to reach new standards for amusement park design as well as sustainability and enhance the Tivoli experience to the great benefit of our visitors.”

Olafur Eliasson is thrilled to be creating a design for the Danish amusement park and national icon with his Little Sun project: “Throughout its history Tivoli has used light to create a magical atmosphere, where dreams and reality blend. It is a glowing oasis at the heart of Copenhagen, a space where we can let go, share thrills and enjoyment, be playful. But it is also a space that appeals to people’s creativity and dreams. Little Sun’s new lamp for the garden, together with the special Tivoli Little Sun lamp, will enhance the feeling that light is not only functional, but it also has a powerful emotional quality. And to use sustainable energy and solar technology is to show the way to a sustainable future. I am greatly looking forward to co-writing this future with the lamps at Tivoli.”

Olafur Eliasson (born 1967, Copenhagen) is a Danish-Icelandic visual artist who works in a wide range of media, including installation, painting, sculpture, photography, and film. Since 1997, his solo shows have appeared in major museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and the Venice Biennale. In 2003, The weather project at Tate Modern, London, was seen by more than two million people. Eliasson’s projects in public space include Green river, realised in various cities between 1998 and 2001; The New York City Waterfalls, 2008; the facades of Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre (in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects), 2005–2011; and Ice Watch, for which Eliasson and geologist Minik Rosing transported massive blocks of glacial ice from Greenland to public squares in Copenhagen (2014) and Paris (2015) to raise awareness of climate change.

Established in 1995, his Berlin studio today numbers about ninety craftsmen, specialised technicians, architects, archivists, administrators, and cooks. They work with Eliasson to develop and produce artworks and exhibitions, as well as on experimentation, archiving, and communication, digitally and in print. Since 2012 Eliasson has directed the social enterprise Little Sun with engineer Frederik Ottesen, and, in 2014, Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann founded Studio Other Spaces to focus on interdisciplinary and experimental building projects and works in public space.

Little Sun is a social business and global project founded by artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen to bring clean, reliable, affordable energy to the 1.1 billion people in the world living in off-grid areas without electricity. The project’s first product, the Little Sun solar LED lamp, was launched in 2012 and is sold all over the world, and the second product, Little Sun Charge, a solar phone charger, has just been launched worldwide. Purchasing Little Suns in areas of the world with electricity makes the products available in off-grid areas at reduced, locally affordable prices, where they provide a clean alternative to toxic and expensive fuel-based lighting and a steadfast and clean alternative to relying on the electrical grid.

Since its official launch at London’s Tate Modern, more than 430,000 Little Sun lamps have been distributed worldwide, with half going to off-grid areas. In April 2014, Little Sun received a ground-breaking $5 million impact investment loan from Bloomberg Philanthropies, making it possible to scale Little Sun’s operations across the African continent.

Little Sun is a proudly certified B Corporation.

Joe Kleiman
Joe Kleimanhttp://wwww.themedreality.com
Raised in San Diego on theme parks, zoos, and IMAX films, InPark's Senior Correspondent Joe Kleiman would expand his childhood loves into two decades as a projectionist and theater director within the giant screen industry. In addition to his work in commercial and museum operations, Joe has volunteered his time to animal husbandry at leading facilities in California and Texas and has played a leading management role for a number of performing arts companies. Joe previously served as News Editor and has remained a contributing author to InPark Magazine since 2011. HIs writing has also appeared in Sound & Communications, LF Examiner, Jim Hill Media, The Planetarian, Behind the Thrills, and MiceChat His blog, ThemedReality.com takes an unconventional look at the attractions industry. Follow on twitter @ThemesRenewed Joe lives in Sacramento, California with his wife, dog, and a ghost.

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