1 of the great challenges today is that we ofttimes experience untouched past the problems of others and by global issues similar climate change, even when we could easily do something to help. Nosotros practise not feel strongly enough that nosotros are part of a global community, part of a larger nosotros. Giving people access to data most frequently leaves them feeling overwhelmed and disconnected, not empowered and poised for action. This is where fine art tin make a difference. Art does not show people what to do, yet engaging with a proficient work of art tin can connect yous to your senses, body, and mind. Information technology tin can make the world felt. And this felt feeling may spur thinking, date, and even action.

As an artist I have travelled to many countries effectually the world over the past xx years. On ane twenty-four hours I may stand in front of an audience of global leaders or exchange thoughts with a foreign minister and discuss the structure of an artwork or exhibition with local craftsmen the next. Working equally an artist has brought me into contact with a wealth of outlooks on the world and introduced me to a vast range of truly differing perceptions, felt ideas, and knowledge. Being able to take office in these local and global exchanges has profoundly afflicted the artworks that I brand, driving me to create fine art that I hope touches people everywhere.


Most of us know the feeling of being moved past a work of art, whether it is a song, a play, a poem, a novel, a painting, or a spatio-temporal experiment. When we are touched, nosotros are moved; nosotros are transported to a new place that is, however, strongly rooted in a physical experience, in our bodies. We become aware of a feeling that may non be unfamiliar to us but which nosotros did not actively focus on before. This transformative experience is what art is constantly seeking.

I believe that one of the major responsibilities of artists – and the idea that artists take responsibilities may come as a surprise to some – is to help people not merely get to know and empathise something with their minds but also to feel it emotionally and physically. Past doing this, art can mitigate the numbing effect created past the overabundance of information we are faced with today, and motivate people to turn thinking into doing.

Engaging with art is not simply a solitary event. The arts and civilization correspond ane of the few areas in our order where people can come together to share an experience fifty-fifty if they see the world in radically different means. The important thing is not that we concord near the experience that we share, simply that we consider information technology worthwhile sharing an experience at all. In art and other forms of cultural expression, disagreement is accepted and embraced equally an essential ingredient. In this sense, the customs created by arts and culture is potentially a great source of inspiration for politicians and activists who work to transcend the polarising populism and stigmatisation of other people, positions, and worldviews that is sadly so endemic in public discourse today.

Art also encourages us to cherish intuition, uncertainty, and creativity and to search constantly for new ideas; artists aim to interruption rules and observe unorthodox ways of approaching contemporary issues. My friend Ai Weiwei, for instance, the great Chinese artist, is currently making a temporary studio on the island of Lesbos to draw attention to the plight of the millions of migrants trying to enter Europe correct at present and also to create a point of contact that takes us across an u.s.-and-them mentality to a broader thought of what constitutes nosotros. This is i way that fine art can engage with the world to change the world.

Footling Sunday, a solar energy project and social business that I set up upward in 2012 with engineer Frederik Ottesen, is another example of what I believe fine art tin do. Light is then incredibly important to me, and many of my works use low-cal as their primary fabric. The immaterial qualities of lite shape life. Light is life. This is why nosotros started Petty Sun.

On a applied level, we work to promote solar energy for all – Little Lord's day responds to the need to develop sustainable, renewable energy by producing and distributing affordable solar-powered lamps and mobile chargers, focusing especially on reaching regions of the world that do not have consistent admission to an electric grid. At the same time, Fiddling Sun is as well near making people feel connected to the lives of others in places that are far away geographically. For those who choice up a Little Sun solar lamp, hold it in their hands, and use it to calorie-free their evening, the lamp communicates a feeling of having resources and of being powerful. With Little Dominicus y'all tap into the energy of the sun to power up with solar energy. It takes something that belongs to all of u.s.a. – the sun – and makes it available to each of united states of america. This feeling of having personal power is something we can all identify with. Petty Sun creates a customs based around this feeling that spans the world.

I am convinced that by bringing us together to share and talk over, a work of art can brand us more tolerant of departure and of ane another. The run across with art – and with others over art – tin can help us identify with ane another, aggrandize our notions of we, and show us that private date in the world has actual consequences. That'south why I hope that in the future, art volition be invited to accept function in discussions of social, political, and ecological issues even more information technology is currently and that artists will be included when leaders at all levels, from the local to the global, consider solutions to the challenges that confront u.s. in the world today.

Olafur Eliasson is one of the recipients of this yr'due south Crystal Awards, presented at the Annual Meeting in Davos. You tin follow him on Twitter via @olafureliasson