Olafur Eliasson in Iceland, 2025. Courtesy of the Salt Lake Arts Council.

You may have noticed something both familiar and odd in your social media feed, today—another image of the Great Salt Lake, slight waves lapping on the shore, the Wasatch Range in the distance; but if you paused before swiping, you may have seen the source—an Instagram handle belonging to the studio of Olafur Eliasson, the internationally renowned artist whose works of light, space, and perception have transformed how audiences experience art.

Eliasson, whose immersive installations like The Weather Project at Tate Modern (2003) and Your Rainbow Panorama in Aarhus, Denmark (2011) have drawn millions of visitors worldwide, is turning his attention to Utah’s imperiled inland sea. In spring 2026, he will debut A symphony of disappearing sounds for the Great Salt Lake as part of Wake the Great Salt Lake, a large-scale public art initiative supported by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge. The commission will be Eliasson’s first artwork in the Intermountain West.

The Salt Lake Arts Council must have been waiting with bated breath to announce this one. The project is described as a multi-day sound and light installation, incorporating field recordings of Great Salt Lake wildlife with an evolving light projection. In blending the soundscapes of the lake’s threatened ecosystem with shifting light environments, the work underscores the intertwined connections between Salt Lake City and its surrounding landscape.

“I’m impressed by the critical work that many in the local community are currently doing to secure the future of the lake,” the artist said in a press release from the Salt Lake Arts Council. “Art, I believe, can contribute by offering fresh ways to connect sensorially with the reality of an issue that we may have become numb to. Personally, I find great inspiration in considering how we humans fit into larger, more-than-human systems that comprise land, water, air, and other species.”

For Eliasson, the lake is a continuation of a career-long dialogue with the natural world. His projects often engage with water, light, and climate, from Ice Watch (2014–18), which placed melting glacial ice blocks in European cities, to Riverbed (2014), in which he filled a Danish museum with a man-made streambed of stone and water. “With this artwork,” the announcement explains, “Olafur hopes to promote dialogue and the urgent conservation efforts needed to protect the threatened ecosystems of the region.”

Eliasson’s commission is part of the broader Wake the Great Salt Lake initiative, a cultural mobilization designed to bring public attention to the lake’s shrinking footprint. Led by the Salt Lake City Arts Council and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge, the project invites artists to create works that highlight the ecological, cultural, and economic significance of the lake. Bloomberg’s initiative has funded projects in cities across the United States, leveraging art as a tool for civic engagement on pressing social issues.

For Salt Lake City, the focus is urgent. The Great Salt Lake has lost more than half of its historic water volume, and scientists warn of devastating consequences if trends continue. Dust storms, ecological collapse, and economic disruption loom on the horizon. By pairing world-class artistic vision with local advocacy, Wake the Great Salt Lake aims to galvanize public imagination and political will.

15 Bytes

UTAH’S ART MAGAZINE SINCE 2001, 15 Bytes is published by Artists of Utah, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.