Tate Modern
10 September 2012
Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun inspires young filmmakers across the world. Little Sun Films premiere at Tate Modern.
After seven sold-out Tate Blackout evenings and more than 9,000 light graffiti made by Tate visitors in the interactive Sunlight Graffiti installation, sixteen short films which cast an eye on the world at large will be premiered at Tate Modern on 15 September 2012as part of Olafur Eliasson: Little Sun.
The films were made by eighteen young, internationally acclaimed filmmakers fromAfrica, theMiddle East,Asia, andSouth America – regions of the world facing energy shortage. The premiere at Tate Modern will be followed by a podium discussion with some of the filmmakers moderated by Olafur Eliasson.
The filmmakers were invited by Olafur Eliasson and producer Tine Fischer to contribute material for a short film. The collected material, shot in a range of formats and styles, has been edited into short films by the Danish film editor Jacob Thuesen with Eliasson and Fischer. These focus on local phenomena, detailed observations, atmospheres, aspirations, feelings, encounters and social activities, and they all relate in broad terms to life, light, and energy access.
Participating filmmakers are Mauro Andrizzi, Edwin, Hawa Essuman, Julio Hernández-Cordón, Khavn, Natasha Mendonca, Alejo Moguillansky, Omelga Mthiyane, Peter Tukei Muhumuza, Sherman Ong, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Kivu Ruhorahoza, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Dominga Sotomayor, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Susan Youssef and Man Kit Lam.
After the premiere of the Little Sun Films on 15 September, they will be on view on Level 2 of Tate Modern from Monday 17 to Sunday 23 September. The films will also be available for online viewing at www.films.littlesun.com from 17 September.
Olafur Eliasson said: ‘It has been a true gift to work on the sixteen Little Sun Films with these highly talented, very diverse filmmakers from all over the world, who have generously volunteered their voices and visions to this endeavour to bring light to some of the 1.6 billion people in the world without adequate access to the electrical grid. The responses have been unexpected, poetic, and eye-opening.’
Little Sun
Created by Olafur Eliasson and the engineer Frederik Ottesen, the Little Sun solar-powered lamp responds to the urgent need to improve access to electricity and light in off-grid regions. Charging the handheld solar-powered light in the sun during the day yields a full evening or early morning of light for cooking, eating, reading, writing or any other activity. Both functional and beautiful, Little Sun is a work of art that works in life. More information at www.littlesun.com.
The Little Sun events at Tate Modern were specifically conceived for Tate as part of the London 2012 Festival and are supported by Arts Council England and LOCOG.
