Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey

 

Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey

 

 

The travelling exhibition Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey is the first major solo exhibition in Southeast Asia dedicated to the work of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. The survey exhibition presents a broad range of artworks that employ diverse media to touch on the major themes of his three-decade-long practice – embodiment, experience, perception, as well as the urgency of climate action and more-than-human perspectives. In his art practice, Eliasson has been driven by the desire to make the ungraspable tangible. Artworks like Beauty (1993), Symbiotic seeing (2020), Ventilator (1997); and Adrift compass (2019) use ephemeral materials, such as light, wind, fog, and water, to conjure evanescent phenomena – shimmering rainbows, swirling mists, the split-second sculptural form of a spouting fountain – or make invisible elements of our surroundings like air or magnetic fields experienceable. Other works, like The cubic structural evolution project (2004), invite visitors to collaborate on creating shared experiences, building shared worlds.

 

SAM is the first stop for Your curious journey. Afterwards it travels to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand (6 Dec 2024–2 March 2025); Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan (31 May–31 Aug 2025); Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia (21 Nov 2025–5 April 2026); and Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila, the Philippines (28 June–October 2026). The journeys that the artworks will take to each location over a period of three years is at the centre of one group of artworks on view in the exhibition: drawing devices installed in crates will create abstract drawings of the artworks’ long trip to their destination by truck, train, or boat. These visual traces will be on view at each leg of Your curious journey, bringing into the exhibition the global story behind the show’s development.

 

To compensate for the distances that the exhibition will travel, Eliasson and his team have sought ways to reduce its carbon footprint, including through changes in installation practice, maintenance, packaging, energy consumption, and, especially, transport. Artworks were selected that are lightweight, already located in the region, or whose materials can be sourced locally in order to keep transport distances to a minimum. Many of the artworks on view in the exhibition reflect Eliasson’s environmental concerns. The last seven days of glacial ice, 2024, for instance, presents the stages in a melting ice block that was found and scanned on a beach in Iceland, and The glacier melt series 1999/2019, a series of photographs taken by the artist in Iceland in 1999 and again from the same perspectives in 2019, shows the decimation of the country’s impressive glaciers over the past twenty years.

 

about the artist

The works of artist Olafur Eliasson (IS/DK b. 1967) explore the relevance of art in the world at large. Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows – featuring installations, paintings, sculptures, photography, and film – have appeared in major museums around the globe. In 2003, he represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale, and later that year he installed The weather project at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, London. Eliasson’s projects in public space include The New York City Waterfalls, 2008; Fjordenhus, Vejle, 2018; and Ice Watch, 2014. In 2012, Eliasson founded the social business Little Sun, and in 2014, he and Sebastian Behmann founded Studio Other Spaces, an office for art and architecture. In 2019, Eliasson was named UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for climate action. In 2023, Eliasson received the Praemium Imperiale for outstanding contributions to the development, promotion, and progress of the arts from the Japanese Imperial Family. 

 

Located in Berlin, Studio Olafur Eliasson comprises a large team of craftspeople, architects, archivists, researchers, administrators, cooks, art historians, and specialized technicians.  

 

Find out more at olafureliasson.net


Olafur Eliasson, Symbiotic seeing, 2020, Installation view: Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, 2020, Photo: Franca Candrian;
Courtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles;
© 2020 Olafur Eliasson

 

Key Supporter:          
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Special Thanks: Hong Leong Foundation

artwork highlights

 

related programmes

 

GUIDED TOUR
Join us on a guided tour and gain insights on selected artworks in this tour of the exhibition, Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey.

 

Access Tour (with SgSL):
- Sat, 7 Sep | 10.30am–11.30am

 

Senior Citizen-led Tour: Thu, 15 Aug | 3.30pm–5pm

 

English Docent Tour: Every Thu to Sun | 2pm–3pm

*Tours commence from 1.30–2.30pm on following dates:
- Sun, 1 Sep
- Sat, 21 Sep

 

Japanese Docent Tour: Every Thu to Sat | 10.30am11.30am

 

• The ELEMENTAL Tour (Dramatised tour suitable for kids): Various Sat & Sun | 2-3pm & 4-5pm

- Sun, 1 Sep Register here
- Sat, 21 Sep Register here

 

DROP-IN ACTIVITY

Light Kaleidoscopes 

Sat, 14 Sep | 11.00am–12.00pm, 2.00pm–3.00pm Register here

 

EVENT

SUPERSIZED WEEKEND: CURIO CITY AT SAM
- Sat, 14 Sep | 11.00am–10.30pm
- Sun, 15 Sep | 11.00am–5.00pm

CURIO CITY invites you to rediscover the magic of curiosity in the everyday! Join us in this captivating two-day programme to celebrate the final week of Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey

This is a celebration of the unseen, the overlooked, and the possibilities that lie in shifting your point of view. Embark on a journey through interactive installations and mesmerising performances that expand your perspective, or explore the wonders of the local makers market featuring unique products.

   

*Visitors must purchase the exhibition admission tickets to participate in the programmes. Programmes are subject to change.

Watch this space for more exhibition-related programmes!

 

resources

For press materials, visit here

For additional readings, visit our digital exploratory space, SAMPLINGS here

merchandise and collectibles

Embark on a journey of curiosity with our exclusive limited-edition merchandise, inspired by the exhibition’s artistic vision. Discover unique products like the iconic Little Sun Original and the eco-friendly Tote Bag from Little Sun, a social enterprise co-founded by Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, promoting sustainable energy for all. Delve deeper into the experience with products reflecting the artworks, including our artistically crafted umbrella and postcard kits.

 

Available at Level 1 vending machine, located in SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, while stocks last!

Little Sun Original & Stand

Little Sun Original dimensions: Diameter 12 cm, depth 2.9 cm

Stand dimensions: 23cm (L) x 13.5cm (H) x 12.5cm (B)

“Holding hands with the sun” Tote Bag

Dimensions: 29 x 32 cm

Material: 100% organic cotton

Umbrella

Dimensions: 21-inch, 32cm x 6cm

Approx. Weight: 435g

Postcards

Size: A6 (10.5cm x 14.8cm)

No of postcards: 6 pieces

Olafur Eliasson: Your curious journey — Singapore exhibition catalogue

Available for purchase from the Epigram Coffee Bookshop at SAM, Level 1

Beauty

Olafur Eliasson

1993

Spotlight, water, nozzles, wood, hose, pump. Dimensions variable

Object defined by activity (then)

Olafur Eliasson

2009

Water, stainless steel, foam plastic, plastic, pump, nozzles, strobe light. Dimensions variable

Symbiotic seeing

Olafur Eliasson

2020

Lasers (cyan, yellow), fog machine, air ventilation system, audio. Dimensions variable

The cubic structural evolution project

Olafur Eliasson

2004

White LEGO bricks (various sizes), wood, mirror. Dimensions variable

Yellow corridor

Olafur Eliasson

1997

Monofrequency lights. Dimensions variable

Circumstellar resonator

Olafur Eliasson

2018

Prismatic glass ring, colour-effect filter glass (yellow), LED lights, ballast, stainless steel, brass, paint (white), cable 98.5 × 98.5 × 75 cm

Life is lived along lines

Olafur Eliasson

2009

Stainless steel, brass, copper, motors, projection screen, wood, HMI lamp; Dimensions variable

The seismographic testimony of distance (Berlin–Singapore, no. 1 to 6)

Olafur Eliasson

2024

Wood, paper, ink (black) Each: 57.8 × 57.8 × 3.8 cm

The last seven days of glacial ice

Olafur Eliasson

2024

Bronze, glass spheres, stainless steel, aluminium 152.5 x 300 x 70 cm

Moss wall

Olafur Eliasson

1994

Reindeer moss, wood, wire. Dimensions variable; Collection of Tate