Olafur Eliasson, Atmospheric Wave Wall 2020.
OLAFUR ELIASSON AT WILLIS TOWER
In collaboration with CNL Projects, EQ Office commissioned the globally-renowned artist Olafur Eliasson’s stunning installation, Atmospheric Wave Wall, on the Jackson Blvd. exterior wall of Willis Tower. After three years, this permanent sculpture was announced in January of 2021. The installation is the capstone of EQ Office’s commitment to art at Willis Tower, and is the culmination of the company’s Art of the Neighborhood program as a cultural give-back to the city of Chicago.
Atmospheric Wave Wall uniquely contributes to the City’s collection of public art and provides a safe and accessible opportunity for folks to experience the work in person. Given the isolating and challenging times, connecting to art outside the current virtual landscape is incredibly meaningful and necessary.
True to Eliasson’s style, the sculpture creates a dynamic experience that is activated by the motion of people walking, driving or biking past; by the motion of the earth in relation to the sun as light moves across it; and by changes in the season and weather. This beautifully massive piece, which took approximately eight weeks to complete, measures roughly 30’ x 60’ and covers the exterior Jackson Blvd. wall with a pattern of 1,963 metal tiles. The pattern is based on Penrose tiling, an approach discovered by mathematician and physicist Sir Roger Penrose in the 1970s that produces a system of non-periodic tiling that is based on five-fold symmetry.
Each tile is curved, like a fragment of the inner surface of a sphere, and the main blue, deep green and white tones were inspired by the surfaces of nearby Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. The concave shapes and colors of the tiles produce a dynamic effect when visitors walk around it. Seen from certain angles, the pattern reveals a vortex that seems to twist and accelerate in response to viewers’ movements. The powder-coated steel catches the light of the sun, and the concave surfaces collect shadows that shift as the day progresses. At night, the piece is lit from behind so flashes of light escape through the interstices between the tiles. As viewers move, the pattern of light appears to move with them, revealing the underlying geometry of the work and creating a captivating effect that activates the street around the building at night, attracting visitors at all hours.
Hear Eliasson speak on his work here.
Read what others are saying about the piece on CNL's press page.
About the artist: Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) works with sculpture, painting, photography, film, installation, and digital media. His art is driven by his interests in perception, movement, embodied experience, and feelings of self and community. Not limited to the confines of the museum and gallery, his practice engages the public through architectural projects, interventions in civic space, arts education, policy-making, and climate action. Eliasson is internationally-renowned for his public installations that challenge the way we perceive and co-create our environments.
