The Red Bulletin Oct/Nov 2020 (US)

Greenland’s ice
sheet (shown in
black) melted at
record levels in
2019, shedding
an estimated
370 billion tons.
OLAFUR ELIASSON, GETTY IMAGES LOU BOYD
Olafur Eliasson
ART FOR EARTH’S SAKE
To make the world a better place, first you
must change your perspective.
With his latest
creation,
Olafur Eliasson
(left) wants us to be the
artist. The prolific Danish-
Icelandic artist’s work Earth
Perspectives comprises nine
fluorescent images of our
planet; to unlock their
meaning, the viewer must
take a deeper look. For
example, stare at the dot at
the center of the globe on
this page for 10 seconds
before shifting your gaze to
a neutral surface. The image
produced by your eyes is, in
effect, your own work of art
and a new, unique view of
the world.
Earth Perspectives may
be easy to engage with,
but the artist’s meaning is
complex. Though best
known for his vast and
conceptual installations,
Eliasson has created this
smaller-scale participatory
piece to help alter our view
of the planet during this
time of ecological crisis.
By presenting areas under
threat from climate
change—including the
Great Barrier Reef and
Greenland’s ice sheet, as
well as the site of the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear power
plant disaster in Ukraine—
the images prompt us to
recalibrate the way we see
our world.
“Earth Perspectives
envisions the Earth we want
to live on together by
welcoming multiple
perspectives,” Eliasson says.
“Not only the perspectives
of humans but also those
of plants, animals and
nature. A glacier’s
perspective deviates from
that of a human. The same
goes for a river.”
Eliasson’s work is part
of the Serpentine Galleries’
Back to Earth program, a
multi-year project that will
bring together more than 60
artists, poets, architects,
filmmakers, scientists,
thinkers and designers in a
call to action on the climate
crisis. Already urgent, this
message now seems even
more prescient due to the
global pandemic.
“The current health crisis
has brought our societies
close to a halt, affecting our
economies, our freedoms
and even our social ties,”
says Eliasson. “We must
take the time to empathize
with all those struck by the
crisis, and to seize this
opportunity to imagine
together the Earth we want
to inhabit in the future, in
all its wonders and beauty,
in the face of all the
challenges ahead of us.”
To see Earth Perspectives
in its entirety—and pieces
by other participants,
including Judy Chicago and
Jane Fonda—visit the
Serpentine Galleries online.
serpentinegalleries.org
THE RED BULLETIN 19