How artist Olafur Eliasson is about to take over London, Berlin, Seoul and New York

Installation artist Olafur Eliasson is known for his vast immersive works that take over huge sections of world-renowned galleries. ‘Lifeworld’, his newest piece, takes his oversized ambition and brings it into the public sphere, taking over London’s Piccadilly Circus, Seoul’s K-Pop Square, Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, and New York’s Times Square.

Starting on 1 October, ‘Lifeworld’ will appear in its locations across the UK, South Korea, Germany or the USA. The huge advertising billboards of bustling places will stop their relentless streams of commercials in favour of Eliasson’s extravagant artworks.

‘Lifeworld’ will present a blurry, abstracted video that asks the public to stop and reflect. It’s a jarring break from the precision of the ads that vye for the financially lucrative placement in these major city’s centres.

Across the four cities, ‘Lifeworld’ will take over every evening at precisely 20:24 from 1 October to 31 December this year, with the New York version taking place at 23:57. In New York’s Times Square, the site will be particularly impressive, taking over every one of the tourist attraction’s 92 screens.

It’s no coincidence that Eliasson has planned this ambitious work now. In the US in particular, he cites the upcoming election as a motivation to encourage the public to host “a plurality of perspectives”.

“‘Lifeworld’ explores how soft abstraction – images that are intentionally undefined and open to our personal interpretations – can reveal our place in the world in 2024,” Eliasson says.

“Sites like Piccadilly and Times Square are enormously impressive spectacles, with their advertising screens that usually display crisp, sensational imagery. It's a thrill; but the environment also determines my actions – driving me mostly to spend or to consume. Lifeworld shows the immediate site anew and its hazy qualities may prompt questions. If you are suddenly confronted with the reality of having a choice, you might ask what cities, lives and environments do we want to inhabit? And how do I want to take part in them?”

If it feels like the world is more polarised than ever, Eliasson asks his audience to engage in the uncertainty through ‘Lifeworld’ and embrace the opportunity for engagement with the unexpected.

What makes ‘Lifeworld’ unique for Eliasson’s work is that it isn’t consigned to a gallery space as is typical of the 57-year-old artist. Shown in four public spaces and available to stream virtually via WeTransfer, Eliasson’s work will engage with whoever happens to be in the area, regardless of their awareness of the project or the artist.

Previously, Eliasson became internationally famous for his bold installations that took over huge gallery spaces. Perhaps his most iconic work was ‘The weather project’ which took over the huge Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern Gallery in 2003.

Through air vapour and reflected lamps, Eliasson created a glowing indoor sun shrouded in mist inside the Tate Modern. It remains one of the most striking ways the space has been taken over.

Continuing his interest with nature, Eliasson followed this up with an evocative work that asked people to engage with the reality of climate change. ‘Ice Watch’ debuted in Copenhagen in 2014 before travelling to Paris and London brought real giant blocks of glacier ice to the public.

Eliasson transported 12 ice blocks from Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland to the streets of Copenhagen, the Place du Panthéon, and the Tate Modern, allowing passers-by to interact with them and viscerally feel the ice melt away at their touch.

Throughout his career, Eliasson’s work has always interrogated humanity’s interaction with the natural world through confrontational and sublime works of art. When ‘Lifeworld’ takes over London, Seoul, Berlin and New York, it will introduce his work to a bigger audience than ever before.