Olafur Eliasson's new installation in Chicago

Entitled "Atmospheric wave wall", it is Olafur Eliasson's new installation in Chicago. A high-impact work that takes shape on the facade of the Willis Tower, the famous skyscraper which until 1998, at 527 metres, was the tallest in the city.
 

Entitled "Atmospheric wave wall", Olfaur Eliasson's new installation in Chicago has a strong impact. It is a work of great impact that takes shape on the facade of the Willis Tower, the famous skyscraper which until 1998, at 527 metres, was the tallest in the city.

The work by the Danish artist of Icelandic origin covers a rectangular surface 18 metres wide by 9 metres high: a monumental mosaic made up of 1963 concave and coloured lacquered metal tiles, carefully chosen one by one. The result is a public work that changes according to the observer's position, the time of day and the seasons, and gives a new face to the skyscraper in a play of light and shadow.
 

“It was a great pleasure for me to create a work of art specifically for Willis Tower and for Chicago,” said Olafur Eliasson. “I was inspired by the unpredictable weather that I witnessed stirring up the surface of Lake Michigan. It is my hope that this subtle intervention can make a positive contribution to the building and to the local community by reflecting the complex activity all around us, the invisible interactions and minute fluctuations that make up our shared public space”.
 

Olafur Eliasson's work is part of an initiative launched in 2019 by the skyscraper's operator, EQ Office: “Art of the Neighbourhood,” which is a cultural programme involving leading artists to create site-specific interventions.