Azabudai Hills Gallery Inaugural Exhibition

Olafur Eliasson:
A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows
Exhibition highlights.
Including a large 20-meter-long installation,
new artworks on display for the first time,and a collaborative culinary project.
Azabudai Hills Gallery, operated by Mori Building Co., Ltd. will hold an inaugural exhibition, Olafur
Eliasson: A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows from November 24, 2023 to March 31, 2024. at the
newly opened Azabudai Hills Gallery in Azabudai Hills.

Olafur Eliasson (born in 1967 in Denmark), an Icelandic-Danish artist, has attracted worldwide attention
not only for his diverse genre-crossing works, but also his active engagement with social issues including
the climate crisis. Eliasson’s works, including his large-scale installations, invite fresh interpretations of theworld and our relationship with nature through new perceptual experiences guided by natural phenomena
and their constituent elements of color, light, and movement.

The exhibition explores the ideas central to Eliasson’ s new public artwork, A harmonious cycle ofinterconnected nows (2023). Through new installations, works on paper, and three-dimensional pieces –coupled with older works – the artist pursues the motifs of line, gesture and movement. From the large
light-and-water installation Your split second house (2010) to Firefly biosphere (falling magma star) (2023), a
geometric sculpture containing intricately refracted light, to new drawings powered by sunlight, wind, andother phenomena of nature, Olafur Eliasson: A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows presents aselection of works that appeal to the senses and are supported by research into natural phenomena,geometry, physics, movement and patterns.

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2023.9.28
Firefly biosphere (falling magma star)
2023
Photo: Jens Ziehe01

Artist profile
Olafur Eliasson

Born in 1967, raised in Denmark and Iceland, Olafur Eliasson is now based inBerlin and Copenhagen. He founded Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin in 1995,
which has developed into a diverse group of professionals, including
craftspeople, architects, archivists, researchers, art historians, chefs andprogrammers. In 2014, Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann foundedStudio Other Space to explore art and architecture. Eliasson has had solo
exhibitions in major museums around the world, including in Kanazawa andTokyo, Japan. He frequently participates in major international exhibitions
and remains a leader of the contemporary art world’ s efforts to raiseawareness of climate change. In 2019, Eliasson was appointed as a Goodwill
Ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme.He wasawarded the 34th Praemium Imperiale (Sculpture) in 2023.

Artist Message

Photo: Lars Borges

On a large scale, everything is on the move, even seemingly stable things – our planet, the sun, and the solar
system are all racing through the Milky Way, hurling around a central black hole. At the same time, if you get
close enough, the world is made up of building blocks, the as-yet undiscovered elemental scaffolding of theReal. Currently we access this only at the level of our dreams. Art is fundamentally about using the power ofimagination to make the impossible possible, the invisible visible.
Olafur Eliasson

About the exhibition subtitle:“A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows”“A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows” is the name of an artwork by Olafur Eliasson that is exhibited in
the office lobby of the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower. This exhibition will further explore the theme addressed inthis work through new installations and other works, including three-dimensional works.
This work is composed of four sculptures, each approximately 3 meters in diameter, hanging continuously ina 15-meter-high atrium. Eliasson, who grew up surrounded by the natural beauty of Denmark and Iceland, hasbeen a leading voice in the contemporary art world in terms of addressing the urgent issues facing the worldtoday, such as the climate crisis, and this is the first time Studio Olafur Eliasson has used recycled metal.

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2023.9.28

This work is made up of a complex series of polyhedra that evokes the trajectory of a single point that twists
as it moves. It alludes not only to the connections between all of creation at an atomic level, but also theinvisible time and reciprocal connections across things, the magnetic forces newly generated by humanactivities and lives. Formally, the spirals derive from a geometrical shape known as a Lissajous curve. Normally
two-dimensional graphs of complex harmonic motion, these curves were translated into three dimensions andtheir frequencies were adjusted to create a range of dynamic shapes. These spirals were then constructed fromrepeating, space-filling modules, making them resemble the growth of crystals or of coral reefs. The module – apolyhedron with eleven faces, known as a hendecahedron – comprises rhombi, kites, and triangles.

A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows (detail)2023
Installation view:

02

Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower Office Lobby, 2023
Photo: Kioku KeizoHighlights

1

Your split second house – a large installation using waterYour split second house (2010), which uses strobe lights to illuminate the moving trajectories
of water droplets as they fall through a dark space with a ceiling height of 5 meters and alength of over 20 meters, is the recreation of a work originally exhibited in 2010 for thisexhibition. This abstract act of drawing with water and light elicits an understanding of thebeauty inherent in Eliasson’s long-standing interest in geometry.

Your split second house
2010
Photo: Christian Uchtmann

2Fifteen works of art on display for the first time inJapan, including the new The air we breathe,
on display for the first time in Japan

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2023.9.28

Created especially for the exhibition, titled The air we breathe (2023), utilizes
the same modules and recycled material as the artwork in the Mori JP Tower.
These two artworks are the first created by Olafur Eliasson specifically fromrecycled materials, marking an important milestone in the Studio’ s ongoingsustainability efforts.
Other works on display for the first time in Japan include a selection of theartist’ s works that deal with drawing in an expanded sense,including aseries of drawings created in the desert of Qatar using natural energy suchas sunlight and wind and The endless study (2005, a drawing machine thatope rate s solely on pendulum powe r which will gene rate drawings
throughout the course of the exhibition.

The air we breathe (conceptual drawing)

032023

3First collaboration with Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen in JapanOn the occasion of the exhibition, Azabudai Hills Gallery Cafe is collaborating withStudio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen to create a special menu using local ingredients fromthe Tokyo area. A chef visited Eliasson’ s studio in Berlin to work alongside the SOEKitchen team and co-create an original menu for this exhibition. Visitors will be able toexperience the studio ‘s family-style cooking with a range of innvoative dishes. The SOE
Kitchen’ s environmentally-focused methodology is also a testiment to their dedication
to the environment.

Lunch at Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen, 2017
Photo: María del Pilar García Ayensa

About Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen

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2023.9.28

Established in Berlin, "Studio Olafur Eliasson Kitchen" prepares
meals three days a week that are shared family-style by the fullstudio team as well as guests and collaborators who happen to bevisiting at the time. The organic, carbon-conscious,
vegan-vegetarian meals use seasonal produce from the nearby
organic farms. In 2016, Studio Olafur Eliasson: The Kitchen, acookbook was published by Phaidon.

Studio Olafur Eliasson:
The Kitchen
201604

General Information
Exhibition Title:

Organizer:

Olafur Eliasson:
A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows
Azabudai Hills Gallery

In Association with:Embassy of Iceland, Royal Danish Embassy

Production Support:

Chiyoda Ute Co., Ltd.

Curated by:
Exhibition Period:
Venue:PRESS RELEASE
2023.9.28
05

Azabudai Hills Gallery Inaugural Exhibition

Kataoka Mami (Director, Mori Art Museum)
Tokuyama Hirokazu (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum)
November Friday 24, 2023 - March Sunday 31, 2024
Azabudai Hills Gallery(Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A MBF, 5-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo)

Opening Hours:

To be announced in mid-October

Admission:

To be announced in mid-October

Exhibition key visuals (2 types)

About Azabudai Hills Gallery
Mori Building strongly believes that in cities where there is only economic activity
and no culture, it is impossible to attract people from around the world. We arecommitted to incorporating "culture" as a key element of urban development,
creating distinctive cultural facilities and displaying artwork within each of ourHills projects.

Azabudai Hills Gallery will be the core cultural promotional facility in Azabudai
Hills, a development based on the concept that “the entire city is a museum.” It isequipped with museum facilities and equipment, and will showcase a variety ofcultural genres, including art, fashion and entertainment.

Azabudai Hills Gallery
Location: Garden Plaza A MBF
Exhibition area: approx. 700 m2
Opening: November 24, 2023
Azabudai Hills Gallery Cafe / Space
Location: Garden Plaza A, B1F
Opening: November 24, 2023

Links
Azabudai Hills Gallery social media accounts
Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/azabudaihillsgallery/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/azabudaihillsgallery/

Olafur Eliasson:
A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows exhibition official websitehttps://www.azabudai-hills.com/azabudaihillsgallery/sp/olafureliasson-ex/

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2023.9.28
06

Press Inquiries
Azabudai Hills Gallery Public Relations Office[ within SUNNY SIDE UP Inc.]
E-mail：azabudaihillsgallery_pr@ssu.co.jp