Olafur Eliasson: Little Sun

“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.

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

Little Sun
Design: Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen
Kickstarter campaign