Olafur Eliasson keeps London’s Tate Modern in the dark this summer
As if London weren’t confusing enough to get around for travelers during the Olympics, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is inviting guests to explore the Tate Modern by flashlight this summer.
In an exhibition that begins Saturday and continues until Sept. 23, the museum will be turning off the lights and inviting visitors to explore its Surrealist galleries using Eliasson’s “Little Sun,” a solar-powered LED lamp in the shape of a flower designed to help better illuminate the problem of global poverty.
“I want the spectator to become the producer, to hold the power of the sun in their hands,” he told the Wall Street Journal. Co-designed by a solar engineer, the lights must be purchased by museum visitors for about $25.
The installation will also include a section further informing visitors about solar power and the estimated 1.4 billion people without access to electricity around the world.
Museum-goers will be able to create videos and portraits using the streaks and swirls of light created by Eliasson’s “Little Sun.”
This isn’t the first time the artist has made a big impression with light. Eliasson drew large crowds to the Tate with his 2003 work “The Weather Project,” which filled the gallery’s Turbine Hall with golden light from a large disc made of lamps framed by a ceiling covered in mirrors.
The artist has reportedly sold 35,000 of his lights with the aim of combating the global power problem and plans to distribute the Little Suns in parts of Africa beginning in August.
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