London, December 13, 2025
Olafur Eliasson, the Icelandic-Danish artist renowned for immersive ecological artworks, continues to advance global climate discourse through major projects unveiled between 2024 and 2026. His installations located in the UK, United States, New Zealand, and elsewhere underscore urgent calls for collective environmental action.
Major Climate-Themed Installations in 2025-2026
In 2025, Eliasson completed “Your Planetary Assembly,” a permanent installation in Oxford’s Fallaize Park featuring eight illuminated glass polyhedrons representing solar system planets. This work fosters communal reflection on humanity’s place within planetary systems and environmental interdependence in the UK.
In Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) staged “Olafur Eliasson: OPEN” from September 2024 to July 2025. This site-specific exhibition explores perception and environmental awareness through innovative manipulations of light and color, aligning aesthetic experience with ecological consciousness.
December 7, 2024, saw the opening of “Your Curious Journey,” a retrospective at Auckland Art Gallery that highlights Eliasson’s ongoing engagement with perception, ecology, and human-environment relations. His efforts also extended to South Korea’s Docho Island in 2024 with “Breathing Earth Sphere,” a public piece reimagining natural environments.
Eliasson’s “Ice Watch” series continued to exert symbolic influence; in 2025, a transport of melting Greenland ice was exhibited in Rome and received blessing from Pope Leo XIV, underscoring the work’s global spiritual and political significance. The project makes climate data tangible, confronting viewers with the direct consequences of polar ice melt.
Looking toward 2026, Eliasson will debut “A Symphony of Disappearing Sounds for the Great Salt Lake” in March, employing sound and light to address the ecological decline of this critical saline ecosystem.
Philosophy: Art as Collective Environmental Agency
Eliasson frames humanity as “prisoners of hope” compelled to act collectively for planetary preservation. His multidisciplinary studio, Studio Other Spaces, integrates artistic practice with scientific and technological expertise, aiming to generate socially and environmentally responsible solutions. Through art, Eliasson cultivates shared spaces for reflection and motivates audiences toward ecological stewardship.
His installations move beyond aesthetic experience to embody urgency in the climate crisis discourse, explicitly linking visual phenomena with scientific and ethical considerations. By merging art, science, and community engagement, his work advances a novel paradigm of art as a catalyst for sustainable transformation.
Sustainability and Social Impact
Eliasson’s commitment to eco-conscious production manifests in initiatives such as Little Sun, a solar-powered lamp providing sustainable energy access while addressing energy poverty globally. The studio emphasizes environmentally friendly materials and transportation methods in the creation of its works.
This holistic approach situates art within a broader framework of environmental ethics and social empowerment, underscoring the responsibility of cultural production in confronting global crises. Eliasson’s projects continue to invite discourse among policymakers, academics, and global citizens about the role of creative practices in fostering planetary resilience.
His recent exhibitions, international collaborations, and innovative installations illustrate a progressive trajectory that combines aesthetic innovation with urgent ecological advocacy, positioning art as an indispensable medium in climate action.