The are some of the most sought-after advertising real estate in Europe, beaming thousands of crystal-clear messages in the direction of tourists and Londoners every year. But in early October the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson’s latest work will take over the screens and attempt to slow things down, swapping high-definition adverts for a blurry, reflective video piece called Lifeworld. “Unlike what is on the screen normally, which is a highly unblurred, exceptionally optimised use of every pixel to capitalise on the money you pay for this exposure,” Eliasson says from , “here we are letting the pixels drift, there’s uncertainty at hand.
” Eliasson has built an international reputation as an artistic innovator since his breakthrough work Weather Project, which featured a giant “ ” installed at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Two million visitors went to see the installation, which covered the space in an orange haze. The Guardian said the Weather Project created an environment where “ ”, and Eliasson hopes Lifeworld can have a similar effect, this time outside the confines of a gallery.
“The issue for me is the public space ...
it’s not about banning the screens but the blur is an attempt to reach out and say, ‘Here’s something beautiful,’” he said. “It’s about slowing down. It’s about tenderness.
It’s about abstraction.” Lifeworld is going to be shown in four separate locations: London’s Piccadilly Lights, K-pop Square in Seo.