Olafur Eliasson has shared photos of the new Breathing earth sphere immersive installation project in Shinan County, South Korea. The installation is the first to be created for the larger Shinan Art Island Project on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site listed archipelago that will bring different artists and designers together to create a special destination experience under the banner '1 Island, 1 Museum.'

Visitors will first arrive at the domed space on top of Docho Island via a tree-line approach that takes them to a contemplative resting place framed by a single Hackberry tree. 

From there, the installation is accessed from an entry point embedded within the hillside and leading to the inside of a spherical subterranean space lined in lava stone and a tri-color palette of tiles that offer the illusion of three-dimensionality and physical impression of "tumbling through space."

As Eliasson describes it: "There are no corners in Breathing earth sphere, no sense of horizon or limit. In fact, there are no walls, ceiling, or floor. Standing there, you may feel, simply, a sense of presence, here and now, within the sphere. The polyhedrons conjured around you may bring associations to the crystals in the soil, the tiny nutrients that give life to us all."

The volcanic history of the island and its effects on the topography is another overstated reference point, part of Eliasson's longstanding exploration of the natural world and desire to challenge our perception of the environment through design. In this capacity, it joins other past immersive works of the same scope such as New York City Waterfalls (2008), Your rainbow panorama (2011), and Ice Watch (2014-2018). 

"If we are to ensure the long-term health of the planet, we need to listen to the earth, to plants, trees, other living species, and to the soil that supports us," he explains finally. "We can only really do so by upend- ing the assumption of human domination over all other beings on earth and accepting our status as merely ‘one among many types of life."