Olafur Eliasson: Little Sun

Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen launched on kickstarter a solar-powered lamp that ”transforms the light that is for all of us into light that is for each of us”.

“Around 1.6 billion people worldwide currently live without access to the electrical grid.

Many rely on kerosene lanterns for lighting, but kerosene is expensive and a health hazard. A ten-year-old doing her homework in the evening to the light of a wick-based kerosene lantern breathes in an amount of pollution equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes per day.

Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen, Little Sun. **Top**: Photo Franziska Russo © 2014 Little Sun. **Above**: Photo: Borkur Arnarson © 2012 Little Sun

By replacing kerosene lanterns with Little Sun lamps, a family living off-grid can reduce their lighting energy costs by 90% over two years – and receive 10 times stronger and better quality light. Five hours of natural sunlight converts to a full evening of Little Sun light. Little Sun makes light for living – for cooking, eating, for reading, writing, for looking, for looking at. It is the foundation for studying, for social encounters, aesthetic experiences, work, and commerce.

Little Sun is a response to our present situation, where natural resources are no longer abundant. Energy shortage and unequal energy distribution demand that we reconsider how our life-sustaining systems function. I see Little Sun as a wedge to open up this urgent discussion from the perspective of art, to raise awareness about energy access and the unequal distribution of energy today.” Olafur Eliasson