Who: Ólafur Eliasson
What: LIVE from the NYPL
Where: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum, 476 Fifth Ave. at 42nd St., 917-275-6975
When: Thursday, September 21, $40, 7:00
Why: Danish-born Icelandic artist Ólafur Eliasson has presented environmentally related projects around the world, including here in New York, in such exhibitions and installations as “Volcanoes and Shelters” at Tanya Bonakdar in Chelsea, “The New York City Waterfalls” along the East River, and the career-defining “Take Your Time” at MoMA PS1. Eliasson, who lives and works in Copenhagen and Berlin, will be at the New York Public Library on September 21 to participate in “Arctic Imagination” as part of the “Live from the NYPL” series. “Arctic Imagination” is a library initiative involving speakers in the United States and Northern Europe sharing their thoughts on climate change and melting Arctic ice. “In just one hundred years, the Arctic and the North Pole have been transformed from extremely dangerous, mysterious peripheral areas to regions which, in the race against climate change, are now in need of our protection and sense of responsibility,” the project explains in its mission statement. “In 2017 the libraries will be focusing on this theme in ‘Arctic Imagination’ — a series of events, readings, and live conversations in New York, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Nuuk.” Eliasson will be in conversation with the NYPL’s Paul Holdengräber. If you are unable to attend the event, which is copresented with the Royal Danish Library and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York, you can follow the livestream here.