olafur eliasson’s lifeworld displays blurry cities on digital billboards in new york, seoul & more

lifeworld by olafur eliasson in new york, seoul, london, berlin

Olafur Eliasson takes over several giant digital billboards in four major cities, projecting videos of blurry urban cities as part of his artwork, Lifeworld. Between October 1st and December 31st, 2024, these animated artworks are simultaneously projected onto numerous billboards in London, Seoul, Berlin, and New York (which is only until November) every evening at 20:24. Through Lifeworld, the Icelandic-Danish artist hopes that viewers and passersby can reflect on who they are and where they are as the digital artworks attempt to point out the role of (big) cities in defining a person’s presence, character, and place in the world and environments they live in.

all photos in New York by Michael Hull | all images courtesy of Studio Olafur Eliasson

Moving artworks are projected onto digital billboards

Olafur Eliasson projects Lifeworld on Piccadilly Lights in London, K-Pop Square in Seoul, Limes Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, and throughout November in Times Square, New York, and on WeTransfer.com. The artist, who’s the present guest curator at WeTransfer, has also worked with CIRCA and New York’s Times Square Arts to bring the digital city landscapes to life. He speaks about the importance of public space as a host of different perspectives that people within that time and space have co-created. One way he can showcase this is by blurring the urban cities people may already know by now to temporarily sensitize the viewers as they pass through these streets. As viewers halt, they may see that these blurry lights may take the form of familiar skyscrapers and lighting in a city they seem to know.

Olafur Eliasson’s Lifeworld on Times Square, New York

‘Lifeworld to contemplate who you are and where you are’

Only when the animated digital artworks begin to reduce their flares do they begin to recognize the place. ‘Our cities, as environments, can feel utilitarian when they are primarily dedicated to set modes of commuting or consuming. ‘Lifeworld’ is an invitation to contemplate who you are and where you are, here and now. The artwork relaxes your sense of depth and time in relation to everything that surrounds you, showing the immediate site anew,’ says Olafur Eliasson. The fast-paced cities where Lifeworld comes alive seem to slow down for a while, dissolving people and their surroundings in a liminal state. It is here that the artist hopes they can realize who and where they are, as if the digital billboards suddenly become their alarm clocks ringing.

all photos in London by Ayushi Channawar