The exhibition came about through Olafur Eliasson’s long-term engagement with Ethiopia and, in particular, the city of Addis Ababa, a relationship that has intensified over the last decade. In 2012, Eliasson relocated his Institut fur Raumexperimente (Institute for Spatial Experiments), an experimental platform for arts education (2009–14) affiliated with the Berlin University of the Arts, to Addis Ababa for an intense programme of artistic exchange and educational collaboration.

Hosted by the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at Addis Ababa University, the ten-week residency culminated in a three-day marathon of art events at Jan Meda Park. Eliasson continues to cultivate ties with Ethiopia through his activity as adjunct professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design and through large-scale projects in public space.

An illustrated exhibition catalogue, produced with the kind support of the Goethe-Institut in Addis Ababa, will be available from mid-March with contributions
by professor of law and philosophy Andreas Esheté, curator and educator Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Olafur Eliasson, and the poets and artists Bekele Mekonnen and Mihret Kebede.

Also available from mid-March is a book containing four lectures given by Olafur Eliasson in 2012 at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, University of Addis Ababa. Titled Turning Thinking into Doing into Art: Lectures in Addis Ababa, the book will be published by the Institut für Raumexperimente, in English and Amharic.