An Icelandic citizen born in Denmark and now based in Berlin, Olafur Eliasson has created sculptures, installations, and photography all based in the natural world. His nontraditional materials (including stone, moss, water, mist, ice, fire, and light) often evoke the landscape of his native Scandinavia and occasionally intervene directly into the environment.

Eliasson's art, however, is concerned less with ecology than with perception. Most works involve effects that do not exist independently but are completed within the viewer's senses and mind. The experience constantly changes as both viewer and artwork move through time and space. With its seamless union of technology and primal elements, Eliasson's work represents a fulfillment of longstanding artistic ideals and a new direction in contemporary artmaking.