Olafur Eliasson Presence

Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Beauty 1993 installed at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 2022 / © 1993 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photography: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio

Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Beauty 1993 installed at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 2022 / © 1993 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photography: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio / View full image

When

6 Dec 2025 – 12 Jul 2026

Where

Gallery of Modern Art, Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery)

Admission

Tickets on sale soon

About

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson invites us on an expansive multi-sensory journey to the edges of perception. Choose your path through a rocky, primordial landscape, navigate an optical puzzle, or envision the future form of our city.

This Brisbane-exclusive exhibition draws from the three-decade career of one of the world's most influential living artists. Spanning the Gallery of Modern Art's (GOMA) ground floor galleries, the exhibition will include important early works and expansive site-specific installations, many never before seen in Australia.

From the magical early work Beauty 1993, which suspends a rainbow in a veil of mist, to Pluriverse assembly 2021, a spatial installation that unfurls ever-changing reflections of light, Eliasson's creations come to life as they meet the viewer's senses and body.

Two much-loved QAGOMA works feature: the rocky landscape and running water of the immense and immersive Riverbed 2014; and The cubic structural evolution project 2004, a huge all-white LEGO city perpetually built and rebuilt by visitors throughout the exhibition.

Eliasson's artistic practice is grounded in the distinctive forms of his familial home Iceland, which will be reflected in a selection of photographs of the landscape, light and human experience of the country.

  • Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Beauty 1993 installed at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 2022 / © 1993 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photography: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio

    Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Beauty 1993 installed at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, 2022 / © 1993 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photography: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio / View full image

  • Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Pluriverse assembly 2021 / Installation view: The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, 2024 / © 2021 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photograph: Zak Kelley

    Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Pluriverse assembly 2021 / Installation view: The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, 2024 / © 2021 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / Photograph: Zak Kelley / View full image

  • Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / The large Iceland series 2012 / Unique C-print / 96 x 143.5 cm / Private collection / © 2012 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles

    Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / The large Iceland series 2012 / Unique C-print / 96 x 143.5 cm / Private collection / © 2012 Olafur Eliasson / Courtesy: The artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles / View full image

  • Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Riverbed 2014 installed at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) / Water, rock (volcanic stones [blue basalt, basalt, lava], other stones, gravel, sand), wood, steel, plastic sheeting, hose, pumps / Purchased 2021. The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust Collection: The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust, QAGOMA / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © 2014 Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA

    Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / Riverbed 2014 installed at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) / Water, rock (volcanic stones [blue basalt, basalt, lava], other stones, gravel, sand), wood, steel, plastic sheeting, hose, pumps / Purchased 2021. The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust Collection: The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Charitable Trust, QAGOMA / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © 2014 Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA / View full image

  • Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / The cubic structural evolution project 2004 installed at the Gallery of Modern Art / ABS plastic / Purchased 2005. QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © 2004 Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: J Ruckli © QAGOMA

    Olafur Eliasson, Denmark b.1967 / The cubic structural evolution project 2004 installed at the Gallery of Modern Art / ABS plastic / Purchased 2005. QAG Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © 2004 Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: J Ruckli © QAGOMA / View full image

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Portrait of Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: Lars Borges, 2020

Portrait of Olafur Eliasson / Photograph: Lars Borges, 2020 / View full image

About the artist

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b.1967) creates art relevant to the world at large. Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows - featuring installations,paintings, sculptures, photography and film - have appeared in major museums around the globe. In 2003, he represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale, and later that year installed The weather project at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, London. Eliasson's projects in public space include The New York City Waterfalls (2008); Fjordenhus, Vejle (2018); and Ice Watch (2014). In 2012, Eliasson founded the social business Little Sun, and in 2014, he and Sebastian Behmann founded Studio Other Spaces, an office for art and architecture. In 2019, Eliasson was named United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador for climate action.

Located in Berlin, Studio Olafur Eliasson comprises a team of craftspeople, architects, archivists, researchers, administrators, cooks, art historians, and specialised technicians.

Experience Brisbane

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