Olaffur Eliasson photographed for LUX in his Berlin studio by Simon de Pury
Olafur Eliasson is an artist of global renown, a former breakdancing champion, an academic and a passionate champion of the planet. Simon de Pury, auctioneer extraordinaire and long-time LUX collaborator, creates art collections for the world’s super-wealthy and runs celebrity charity auctions with a biting silver tongue. De Pury travelled to Eliasson’s Berlin studio and home, where the two discussed light, communication, birthdays, art and the human rights of the planet’s plants and creatures
Simon de Pury: First, a question I often asked when I was interviewing someone for a job: if you could be an animal, what would you be?
Olafur Eliasson: I would be a jellyfish, I think. They move so graciously and they’re very slow. I like that a lot.
The Serpentine Pavilion lamps, 2007, by Olafur Eliasson. Photograph by Simon de Pury
SDP: I heard that you have a winter birthday.
OE: Yes, the 15 February.
SDP: So that makes you Aquarius. Do you follow astrology?
OE: No, I don’t. It’s remarkable that everything always fits. It’s a little bit like fortune cookies. It’s always nice… it’s like: you’re going to meet a friend next week. That cannot be wrong. But I think the question is whether we have room in our life for matters that don’t really fit into Western science.
Read more: Interview with Claire Ferrini of Astrea London
I think Western science falls short of providing a safe future. You could refer to indigenous knowledge, for example, or knowledge about trees, the forest, the cyclical nature of weather and seasons, and how to treat nature and so on. It is remarkable to observe that these knowledges are considered absolutely non- functional or non-important by the rationalised or pragmatised minds of Western society.
And it turns out that there is a lot of insight into happiness, success and health that indigenous knowledge addresses. The trees are not as simple as we humans thought they were. And this gives us a great opportunity. When we see a tree, instead of saying, “Oh, there is a tree, what can I use that for? Can I make money with it?”, we can become crucially aware that if we indeed keep exploiting or extracting nature, we are going to ruin our own livelihood, the wellbeing of the planet.
The first set of designs for the LUX logo by Olafur Eliasson
SDP: I recently saw a Belgian businessman who is based in Brazil. He was discussing a project with an Amazonian gentleman who told him: listen, I first need to consult the trees. Once the trees gave a positive feedback, they were able to kick off their project.
One of the most fascinating experiences I’ve ever had is when I attended the annual Summer Nights gala you curated for the Fondation Beyeler. You staged an incredible environment just for that one night and your sister provided amazing food.
When we entered the room where the dinner was to take place, everything was in black and white. We suddenly experienced the world as if we were colourblind. The weirdest thing was eating food when it’s only black and white. You got up and started to give a speech, you pressed a trigger and colour reappeared as by a miracle! I have no clue how you pulled that off.
The playful evolution of Olafur Eliasson’s LUX logo designs
OE: Yes. White light, like sunlight, is the spectrum of all the colours of the rainbow. If the white light missed a colour in it, then it would miss in the rainbow. We know Newton’s lens with the prism [where white light enters the prism and emerges on another side separated into the colours of the rainbow].
White light is the visible area of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each colour has a special wavelength, measured in, I think you call it a nanometre. This is how light works, right? There is a yellow light in the yellow spectrum that is 100 per cent monochromatic. In our eyes, we have what are called receptors for light: we have blue, red and green. We actually don’t have yellow because the mix of red and green produces yellow.
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If you have this monochromatic yellow light and there’s no other white light, you are, in fact, only seeing a black and white image. Humans are capable of seeing more grey tones than colour tones. That’s why a black-and-white photo by Ansel Adams can sometimes look more real than the same photo in colour.
So you realise that our eyes really influence our brain to interpret visual information – say the food on your plate. The vegetable, you thought, is green because it appears to be in the shape of an asparagus. But actually it could be an orange carrot. This means that I already have a predetermined opinion about what I’m looking at and that influences what I’m looking at. Perhaps this is why we have a hard time changing our mind. It is what the brain tells us we are seeing. That’s interesting, because it suddenly throws up that reality is relative. For me, it shows how you are the author of your own responsibility with regards to what and how and why you see. You can choose to change your view.
The final Olafur Eliasson design for the LUX logo, as seen on the cover of our Winter 2025 issue
SDP: At the Summer Nights gala, we all had under our seat a Little Sun. Can tell us about it?
OE: Occasionally, I have organised events using a little handheld solar lantern called Little Sun. It’s a handheld little power station, which has a solar panel, strong and qualitative. The Little Sun project was to advocate and build awareness around sustainable energy. So it also has that little educational offering to have confidence in solar panels. Because 15 years ago, when we were testing the very first slides, some people would say, well, I don’t believe in solar panels. Now everyone knows what a solar panel is. We have delivered one million off-grid lanterns in sub-Saharan Africa. A large amount of our lamps – I believe one-third – are distributed at no cost in places where there is no economical infrastructure, such as refugee camps. My co-founder of Little Sun, Frederik Ottesen, has now for many years lived in Zambia to build this.
SDP: When Sam Keller, Director of Fondation Beyeler, introduced you that night, he said, “Olafur Eliasson is a 21st-century Leonardo da Vinci.” In your practice as an artist, an activist, an environmentalist – in your multiple activities, who do you measure yourself with?
The complete sphere lamp, 2015, by Olafur Eliasson. An open woven basket afixed to a circular mirror that creates a ‘complete sphere’
OE: I am really grateful for what I have been doing. My studio in Berlin has a 30-year anniversary this year and I’ve been very focused on how to give back to younger artists, their conditions and teaching at art school. I have my amazing studio team; I have the same two gallerists that I started with: Tim Neuger & Burkhard Riemschneider here in Berlin, and Tanya Bonakdar in New York. I admire people like I admire the jellyfish for its easygoing way of swimming. I never was very focused on competition or the idea of the heroic act.
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I am momentarily very inspired by the structural language specialist, the late Marshall Rosenberg. I’ve thrown myself into quite an intense study of this founder of nonviolent communication. It is about speaking and acting without inflicting judgment or threatening people you have disagreements with. I think art can address, not just the feelings that people bring to the room, but also their needs. There is much less likely to be a conflict or a polarisation, if we can state our needs fundamentally.
Needs can be very personal: we want to have a life, we want to be acknowledged, we want to be healthy, we want an education, and so on. I have a need for silence, because I get anxious if I don’t have silence.
A portrait of Olafur Eliasson by Jonathan Newhouse, for LUX magazine
SDP: One of the reasons I’ve always loved art is that art is one thing that can bring us closer together. To hear you speak now about nonviolent communication is riveting. I didn’t realise that this was also part of your focus.
OE: It’s a recent development. I keep finding out that the world is quite amazing. I remain humble and grateful for the many opportunities and in particular for the incredible career I’ve had. And there are many, many collectors and artists and friends and gallerists and museums who have believed in me.
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SDP: It’s extraordinary to realise that your career already spans 30 years. Your list of achievements is phenomenal. What are your dreams going forward?
OE: Klee did this Angelus Novus, of the angel that faces the past and the wisdom of the past, but, in fact, flies backwards into the future. That was the kind of conservative idea of what is a good life. You learn from the successes of the past. The late philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour said that, considering the fact that modernity created the climate crisis, we actually can maybe conclude the past wasn’t quite as successful as we thought. The ground is trembling, it is collapsing right underneath our feet. I hope to have the courage to keep reinventing myself. And my biggest wish is that people still want to, and consider that relevant.
‘Shadows travelling on the sea of the day’, 2022, by Olafur Eliasson, installation view, Northern Heritage sites, Doha, from a group exhibition for Qatar Museums’ Qatar Creates, 2022
I just looked at a cartoon where a small dragon sits on the back of the panda, and the dragon asks the panda: what do you like the most, the path, the journey, or the destination? The process or the goal? My generation grew up with these questions. We said it was about the process and not the destination. The panda says, it’s the company. It illustrates the fact that we are, more often than we think, stuck in our own paradigm, and that prevents us from seeing things anew. That’s why I also named my recent show in Tokyo “Sometimes the river is the bridge”.
Hope alone is not going to change much. I believe you need to take action yourself, to get out and do it; to not only look at the horizon, but down and around, and learn from those you disagree with, find mutual company and make a movement. Then you can create change.
SDP: I always look at artists as mediums, as I feel that artists see things we don’t see yet. Artists, on the whole, are directed to the future. I feel all your activities are directed towards the future. It’s so interesting with what you said about hope. One always says hope is what dies last.
Eliasson with his 2007 ‘The Serpentine Pavilion lamps’, 2024. Photograph by Simon de Pury
OE: I think that in many ways it is also about love, to admit we all have a need for love. Maybe we need a care economy that would cater for caring for future life on this planet. There are some companies that aspire to make nature the chair of the board. There is a lot of legislative work being done by grassroots organisations, such as the charity ClientEarth, founded by James Thornton. It represented the air of London by suing the UK government for having too many pollutants. It’s a famous case. There are many countries where rights of personhood are becoming part of the legislation. Non-humans, such as mountains or rivers, have rights of personhood to protect against human intervention. I like this idea that we humans are not so exceptional any more. For one project called “Future Assembly”, I worked with others to propose that the Human Rights Charter is rewritten so that every part of the world should have a seat at the table: animals, the sky, the ocean – they should speak up for their rights.
Breathing earth sphere by Olafur Eliasson is a permanent public artwork on Docho island, South Korea, created specifically for the island’s volcanic topography, from 13 Nov 2024; “Olafur Eliasson: your curious journey” is at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 7 Dec 2024- 24 Mar 2025; aucklandartgallery.com
The Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Richard Mille Art Prize, held under the celebrated dome at Louvre Abu Dhabi showcases artists from the Gulf region. Maria Sukkar, LUX senior contributing editor and co-chair of the Tate Middle East North Africa Acquisitions Committee, talks to the most recent curator, Maya El Khalil, and winning artist Nabla Yahya, at a time when previously marginalised artistic voices are becoming increasingly prominent
Transparencies was the theme for the Richard Mille Art Prize 2023/2024, a concept that inspired eight artists from in and around the Gulf to submit striking, varied works.
The Prize, created by the uber-luxury Swiss watch brand in partnership with Louvre Abu Dhabi, supports and showcases contemporary artists based in the Gulf region, an area whose artistic voices have been historically sidelined by a Western-centric art perspective.
Oxford-based curator Maya El Khalil and a jury of curators and authorities chose Dubai-based Nabla Yahya for SoftBank, her multimedia reflection on the history of the Suez Canal, for which she won $60,000 and a global platform, celebrated at a gala dinner.
Photograph of winner Nabla Yahya
Entry for the next Richard Mille Art Prize is open to artists from seven North African countries. The Prize is becoming one of the most influential in the world, with this year’s event taking place under the celebrated dome of Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Maria Sukkar, collector and a major voice in the contemporary-art world, holds a conversation with El Khalil and Yahya. Sukkar and El Khalil are UK-based with a global perspective, symbolic of the current, long-overdue integration of the West Asian region’s art canon with that of the West and beyond.
Darius Sanai
The winner Nabla Yahya’s SoftBank; shortlisted artists
Maria Sukkar: Maya, as a curator, what is your view of the art scene in West Asia?
Maya El Khalil: There are different institutions that have emerged in the region, all with a differing pace, focus and prioritisation. Although Dubai started as an art market, it also has institutions that enable scholarly research, and others for emerging voices.
Abu Dhabi is building on infrastructure, and other institutions are in the making. Saudi Arabia is developing lots of infrastructure. So we see the shift.
Historically, we talked of Egypt and Lebanon, however, Saudi, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are where the funding is. The same is true for richness and diversity going further East, such as the development of scholarships in India.
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Richard Mille Art Prize ceremony room
MS: Throughout your career you have been involved in amazing projects, curatorial posts and exhibitions. Could you elaborate on this edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize exhibition, “Art Here 2023”?
MEK: I think the “Here” in the title is very important. When we talk about “Here”, we are not only exploring the region geographically, but also the influence of history and tradition, and of factors such as climate change. So thinking about what is happening here and now is extremely important.
It also speaks to the spirit, the combining of traditional and fresh art forms. It is very much reflective of that. The dome is certainly a symbol of Arab architecture, and Louvre Abu Dhabi’s light-reflecting version also evokes the playfulness between the visible and invisible, the indoor and outdoor.
Architecture is a form of reflecting on modernity, but sometimes that modern transparency is rejected. There are lots of concepts to address, so the exhibition’s theme, Transparencies, is very rich.
“It’s so encouraging and validating to have such an esteemed selection committee believe in the work” Nabla Yahya
MS: You said in an interview that “the opportunity to present the work in this space is both a privilege and a challenge”. What were the challenges of curating a project in this non-gallery space beneath the dome?
MEK: Being semi-outdoors, to start with. The artists had to find ways of proposing work that can withstand the varying degrees of the elemental conditions, moving from extreme humidity and temperature fluctuations to sandstorms and heavy rain.
There is also the idea of scale. How do you compete with a space that is dominated by its architecture? I think the artists were able to successfully respond to that.
The Richard Mille Art Prize began in 2021, inviting artists in the Gulf region to propose new or existing artworks that engage with the chosen theme for the year
MS: What do you think distinguished Nabla Yahya’s work from the rest?
MEK: There were a few fundamental things that we considered while making this exhibition, such as the ability of the work to match the striking space and the atmosphere. The final decision was unanimous.
Nabla’s work, SoftBank, speaks of trade and labour, which are significant in the region; it is both thematically challenging and really well made – Nabla was extensively involved in producing the work itself.
It’s a subtle work, bringing confidence in what it’s alluding to; there is a depth and range of references and ideas, and the technique really brought it together to make a beautiful installation.
Photograph of Maya El Khalil, the most recent curator of the Richard Mille Art Prize
Nabla responded brilliantly to the theme, building not only on contemporary issues but also historical factors. We are at a time where we revisit history and ask, “Who tells that story? Who has the right to tell that story?”.
Nabla has a critical eye on this topic, which is both relevant and important.
MS: Can you tell us about your role as a curator?
MEK: It’s a very important role. It’s not a one-way communication and we hope that artists use the experience of a curator in having worked with different artists to benefit from the process.
Curating is a two-way experience that is important to start early on. It is not about imposing or instructing, it is very much about brainstorming and challenging ideas.
Louvre Abu Dhabi reinterprets Arab architectural themes
MS: How do you think the Richard Mille Art Prize can expand?
MEK: Every edition learns from the previous one. This is the first semi-outdoor exhibition, which inspires the artists. It will be interesting to see the prize evolve to be even more globally engaging and I look forward to seeing it open to a broader region of applicants.
I hope it remains in its current location, because there are still a number of conversations that can be developed in response to the architecture of the space, which will be interesting for the editions to come.
MS: Nabla, congratulations on winning this year’s Richard Mille Art Prize. What inspired you to create your winning installation, SoftBank?
Nabla Yahya: I started thinking about the Suez Canal in 2021 when one of the world’s largest container ships became lodged, holding up global trade. It made me think of how the canal came to be. I took its history for granted; I only knew from the 20th century onwards, in regard to its nationalisation in 1956.
I was interested in reading more of how it came to be. When I learned the Suez Canal had been built in the 1860s by hand, by forced labour, it made me want to make a work about it. I’m really interested in questions around labour and exploitation.
Archival prints are viewed through a hand-cranked carousel, evoking the labour of workers who built the Suez Canal
As I have an architectural background, I contended a lot with the complicity that architects have with the level of exploitation across the world due to global capitalism. It was heartbreaking for me to see how nothing has really changed in the implementation of these grand schemes.
When it came to “Art Here 2023”, I had already been thinking about the history and the project. Since the theme of Transparencies was announced, I thought it would be relevant to present my work, which deals with the opacity of historical narratives.
I also thought it would be interesting to present a work that dealt with French colonialism within a French museum, trying to bring some closure for the workers who were not documented.
Yahya seeks to examine histories and present realities that have been censored, erased, or overlooked by past and present systems of power
MS: What’s behind the name “SoftBank”?
NY: First, the banks of the Suez are made of clay, salt and sand, so they’re soft. In order to maintain them they need to be re-dredged as they need reinforcement. So it alludes to them literally, but also to a generation of soft power when it comes to building these kinds of mega projects.
They are promoted with a humanitarian vision. For me, there’s a failing in the intentions to create more profit and power. It also alludes to the Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank, which is sort of a pun.
Photograph of Maria Sukkar, LUX senior contributing editor and co-chair of the Tate Middle East North Africa Acquisitions Committee
MS: The work is interactive; a lot of building went into it. How did that came about?
NY: There are three main components. There is the interactive carousel, then a topographical installation representing the canal, based on a map from 1870. Then you have a fountain, an Occidentalised version of a healing bowl, which, however, fosters greed and speaks of power struggles and exploitation.
I thought it would be interesting to make an artwork that involved the viewer in a similar way, to spend some time with the work, to make it a bit more active. There were several struggles, including the environmental; perhaps I would’ve used different materials if it was indoors.
Not only are we in this climate, but we are also on the water, exposed to salt water, so I was overloaded with so many possible issues, trying to think 20 steps ahead. And naturally, the cost of the work goes up when you’re using materials that are made to last.
In SoftBank, artist Nabla Yahya considers the history of the Suez Canal in order to “deal with the opacity of historical narratives”
MS: The work is certainly a dialogue between past and present, but also an outpour of emotion. What does winning the prize mean to you?
NY: I was completely shocked, and still am. It means a lot for different reasons. First, I was born in Abu Dhabi, so it meant a lot to win a prize there, 15 minutes away from the hospital where I was born.
Also, I feel as if I’m only just getting started, so it’s so encouraging and validating to have such an esteemed selection committee believe so much in the work. It is really incredible to receive this sort of feedback, because I’m not a very confident person.
It’s great that the art world has a space to have difficult conversations, and that people do care.
MS: You’ve always been interested in colonialism. Is SoftBank your most daring work so far?
NY: I do think it’s the most ambitious, but it depends on how you define it. If it’s daring because of the subject matter and context, I suppose so. I hope it sets a bar for myself.
SoftBank is comprised of three components that together examine the hidden histories behind the construction of the Suez Canal
MS: Now that you’ve won this prize, how do you see its future in the region? Can it become even more important?
NY: I think it goes back to what I was saying about others being able to express themselves freely. I think that could be a positive outcome, that this initiative could grow as a space where we can have these expansive global conversations. I hope that is the effect.
MS: What’s next for Nabla?
NY: I’m going to grad school. At the ceremony, I was so shocked at winning, but all I was thinking was, “I need to pay for grad school”. It was an emotional rollercoaster.
Carousel detail, depicting the exploitation of the workers who created the Suez Canal
MS: Maya and Nabla, it’s not the first time you’ve worked together. How did it feel to be part of a project together again?
NY: Maya gave me such incredible opportunities. The first time we worked together, she found me and reached out to me. I was a new person in her life and she trusted me with a commission for a show, which I think was so amazing.
With the open call for the Louvre, it’s so meaningful to have people looking out for you. Maya says she wants to support emerging artists and she really does that.
MEK: When you research it, you’ll find artists who address our contemporary world in such an honest way. There isn’t a distance between Nabla and her work. Sometimes artists have a distant relationship with things that are going on around them and can critique them.
Nabla is so involved with what’s around her, she’s so invested in everything she does emotionally, theoretically and critically. At the same time, she does intense research before she makes her work. She is very much a barometer of the world around us and that is reflected in her art.
Yahya’s Occidental version of a healing bowl, which here “fosters greed”
MS: Nabla, you once said, “I escaped the architecture industry”. How do you merge both disciplines in your work?
NY: I’m not sure if it’s a good thing for me. During my interview for grad school, I was asked about my work being clean and crisp, which I attribute to my architectural background. I’d be interested in what kind of work I could make if I could shake that background from me.
I do think it’s limiting. I think that there are things that are incredibly valuable from this background, though, such as having a research-based approach to the world. In terms of thinking about forms and aesthetics, I would like to move away from it.
MEK: I see it differently, as a strength. But the fact that you’re aware of it, and you put yourself in situations where you challenge it, is promising.
The four curators of the “Women and Speed” show: Maria Sukkar, Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, Maryam Eisler and Angeliki Kim Perfetti
When Richard Mille, the super-luxury watch brand, asked LUX magazine to create an exhibition in their Mayfair boutique during London’s Frieze Art Fair, we engaged four female collectors-curators to create an original narrative around the topic of “Women and Speed”. But why does the subject feel like an unconventional – even contradictory – pairing? Woman have often been depicted as slow, pensive, gentle subjects in art. Meanwhile, the male subject has raced from the oil-painted battle scene to the quick flash of the photograph as they drive past in fast cars, with women the ever-bystander.
Our curators, Maria Sukkar, Maryam Eisler, Angeliki Kim Perfetti and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, challenged that narrative.
The result was a stunning and original show featuring works by artists including Tracey Emin, Marina Abramović and Mary McCartney, and including iconic works such as Warhol‘s polaroid of Blondie’s Debbie Harry and American artist Jordan Watson‘s depiction of a female racing driver. There were also celebrated works by the likes of Helmut Newton, Nassia Inglessis, Fernand Fonssagrives, Maryam Eisler, and a stunning digital artwork by Six N. Five.
Guests of the opening included the crème de la crème of the London and international collecting world.
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Linda Bassatne, Maria Sukkar, Jo Glynn-Smith, Dina Nasser Khadivi and Alice Harvey
Francesca Ariani and Chloë Lopez
Samantha Welsh, Angeliki Kim Perfetti, Maria Sukkar, Darius Sanai and Maryam Eisler in the Richard Mille flagship store on Old Bond Street where the art curation took place
Tim Jeffries and Maryam Eisler
Jordan Watson with his artwork “Fast and Futurist” and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst, enjoying the George Condo issue of LUX
Megan Reynolds and Chloë Lopez
Maryam Eisler, Tim Jeffries, Rachel Verghis and Darius Sanai in front of the Mary McCartney work “Kate, Kate, Kate”
Jordan Watson and Tarka Russell
Darius Sanai, Maryam Eisler, Maria Sukkar and Katy Wickremesinghe
Jonathan Glynn Smith and Nick Sullivan
Nassia Inglessis, Margot Mottaz and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst
Alexander James and Marcello Polito
Maryam Eisler, Michele Codoni, and Angeliki Kim Perfetti
Angeliki Kim Perfetti and Annabelle Scholar
The curators: Maria Sukkar, Maryam Eisler, Angeliki Kim Perfetti and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst – with special thanks to Michael Hoppen, Tim Jeffries, Mary McCartney and Superblue.
Director: Darius Sanai, Editor-in-chief, LUX magazine
The main cover of our Summer 2021 issue, with a portrait of, and logo takeover by Rashid Johnson
Our Editor-in-Chief on the role of media and convergence in sustainability and luxury, from the editor’s letter in the summer 2021 issue
Darius Sanai
A curious thing happened to the media during the first lockdown last year. The media became everything, and nothing.
If you are struggling to make sense of that, consider this. For much of the period when we were forbidden from travelling or engaging in normal everyday activities, would wake up, flip onto WhatsApp and Instagram, login to Zoom and Teams, perhaps while checking out a YouTube video or TikTok feed on another device. In the evenings we might travel somewhere on Amazon Prime or YouTube, listen to stuff on Spotify, play League of Legends, search for a watch or a dress on Watchfinder or Net-a-Porter, or be entertained on Netflix or Apple. We would also use a podcast app to inform and entertain ourselves, maybe while Alexa or Siri read us the headlines from The New York Times.
All of that is ‘media’, which begs the question, what isn’t media?
Twenty years ago, I remember being asked, as a media correspondent for a newspaper, to write and give talks on the then new phenomenon of ‘convergence’, whereby previously completely disparate strands of human existence were starting to overlap and merge into each other. Convergence has now not just happened, but done a kind of backflip on itself. Witness the new armies of ‘creators’, who were once people with social media accounts, but are now investable business platforms leading reverse takeovers of the product lines and sectors they promote, from beauty to entertainment. They are also media, as is Ryan, who earns exclamation dollars a year opening toys on YouTube; and what is a non-fungible art token except the ultimate form of personalised, monetised media?
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All of this has left some of the traditional media in a head spin. Which tail is wagging which dog when a magazine employs a writer who then becomes an advocate for a brand she has written about, and creates a following and business worth more than the magazine that employs her?
Our partner cover for Gaggenau
In a sense, nothing has changed except the players. In this new global ecosystem, ‘media’ refers to curation above anything else – just as it did when Diana Vreeland edited Vogue. An influencer curates brands and looks; a TikToker curates social memes; a Washington Post editor curates the hierarchy and interpretation of what is happening in the world.
Far from being a constraint to traditional media, it is or should be an opportunity. We used to be expert intermediaries, reporting on aspects of the world (news, analysis, business, art) to our audiences. Now, as well as curating, we create: bring to life experiences and ecosystems. We make things happen. We also leverage our existing ecosystems in new directions.
Read more: Sophie Neuendorf on why tokenisation is the art world’s new frontier
LUX readers were previously defined simply by their demographic. But with wealth comes responsibility, increasingly so in this era, and we are both being inspired by and inspiring our readers, partners and ecosystem to not only help create a better life for our readers, but help them do what they would like to do and adjust the direction of elements of the world for the better. Media has a responsibility to lead.
The summer issue contains a 16-page section in partnership with Deutsche Bank, on sustainability and biodiversity
That is why you will see our 16-page supplement, together with our partner Deutsche Bank, on biodiversity and the blue economy. It is why we have launched our new series on philanthropy online, and given it a manifestation in this issue. Why we are partnering with brands and institutions to create events as diverse as a prize for sustainable art, and a forum for biodiversity. When I interviewed Brunello Cucinelli, our conversation was about the moral duty of those who can help to do so; we barely spoke about the sublime cashmere he makes. Responsible culture has long been our tag line; it is also our call to action.
I hope you enjoy this issue and everything else we do – keep updated at lux-mag.com and on our Instagram.
Read more from our Summer 2021 issue:
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