Koreless Produces Soundscape for Olafur Eliasson’s First Utah Installation

Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson has chosen Welsh Grammy-winning producer Koreless to produce an original composition for his first public artwork in Utah and the Intermountain West region. The sound-and-light installation, entitled A symphony of disappearing sounds for the Great Salt Lake, is the capstone artwork for the Wake the Great Salt Lake initiative, presented by Salt Lake City Arts Council, Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge. The artwork debuts in Salt Lake City’s Memory Grove on Thursday, March 26, 2026, and will be on view every night for only ten days, closing on April 4, 2026.

For the occasion, Eliasson and his team worked with three sound archivists – Martyn Stewart (The Listening Planet), Jeff Rice (Ecosystem Sound), and Kevin J. Colver – to collect field recordings from the animals and natural phenomena that make up the sounds of Great Salt Lake. Eliasson selected Koreless to produce the original score for the art installation, translating the sounds into a dynamic soundscape so that the lake can be perceived by residents and visitors in a new light.

“I believe that artworks can touch people in ways that scientific data, news reports, and policy discussions cannot. Created together with Koreless, the composition transforms over 150 field recordings of animals that depend on the lake and natural phenomena into what I call an “orchestral parliament.” In audio layers that overlap and interrupt one another, this parliament brings together a swarm of brine flies, migratory bird calls, the bellowing of grazing bison, and the sounds of over a hundred other animal species.” – Olafur Eliasson

Raised in the Welsh coastal town of Bangor, Koreless grew up navigating the swift estuarine waters of the Menai Strait — a formative experience that continues to shape his sonic sensibility. That lifelong relationship with water makes him a sensitive choice for a project centered on the ecological future of the Great Salt Lake.

“I’ve been fascinated by concatenative synthesis for a while, and this project became the perfect playground for exploring it through a vast archive of sound recorded at the Salt Lake. Limiting ourselves to these recordings opened up an entirely new way of listening.” – Koreless

Koreless first emerged with his 2011 debut EP 4D, later releasing the influential Yūgen EP on the renowned music and arts organization Young. His critically acclaimed debut album Agor was described by The Quietus as “a simply breathtaking debut.” Beyond his solo work, he has composed original film scores, collaborated with choreographers Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, and created immersive A/V performances that merge sound, space, and movement. Best known for his immersive electronic compositions and groundbreaking collaborations — including serving as executive producer on FKA twigs’ Grammy-winning album EUSEXUA — Koreless brings a globally recognized artistic voice to one of the most ambitious climate-focused public art projects in the United States.

Wake the Great Salt Lake is part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge, which brings together cities and their leaders to develop innovative, temporary public art projects that address important civic issues in their communities. The public art activities of Wake the Great Salt Lake have included 12 art projects by artists based in Salt Lake City or with Utah ties, expressing the community’s concerns and hopes for the Great Salt Lake across a wide range of artistic mediums. Eliasson’s installation serves as a capstone to the project, bringing an international lens and global attention to the ecological crisis occurring in the Western Hemisphere’s largest saline lake. The addition of Koreless underscores the project’s commitment to ambitious, cross-disciplinary collaboration that connects global creative voices with local environmental urgency.

For full exhibition details and to RSVP, please visit: http://wakegsl.eventbrite.com

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About Koreless

Koreless is a Welsh composer and producer known for his emotionally expansive approach to electronic music, blending club sonics with ambient, classical, and experimental composition as heard on his critically acclaimed solo work including Agor (2021) and the Deceltica EP (2024). His atmospheric sound has been brought to life through immersive performances, including The Well (2014), created with audiovisual artist Emmanuel Biard, and “Into the Hairy” by choreographer Sharon Eyal, which premiered in 2023. He has contributed to Grammy award-winning albums by FKA twigs and David Bryne, collaborated with artists including Sampha, Caribou, and Perfume Genius, and composed the original score for Medusa Deluxe (2022), directed by Thomas Hardiman. Working across music, sound design, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Koreless continues to explore the intersection of electronic production, spatial sound, and contemporary art.

About Olafur Eliasson

The works of Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) explore the relevance of art in the world at large. Since 1997, his wide-ranging solo shows – featuring installations, paintings, sculptures, photography, and film – have appeared in major museums around the globe.

Eliasson is internationally-renowned for his public installations that challenge the way we perceive and co-create our environments. In 2003, he made ‘The weather project’, a glowing indoor sun shrouded in mist at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in London. In 2008, Eliasson constructed four expansive artificial waterfalls along the Manhattan and Brooklyn shorelines for ‘The New York City Waterfalls’. He has also explored art’s potential to address climate change: for ‘Ice Watch’, he brought large blocks of free-floating glacial ice to the city centres of Copenhagen in 2014, Paris in 2015, and London in 2018. Passers-by could touch fragments of the Greenlandic glacial ice and witness its fragility as it disappeared before them. On the occasion of the 2020 German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Eliasson created ‘Earth Speakr’ together with children around the world and support from the German Federal Foreign Office; the global artwork invites kids to speak up for the planet. In 2024, Eliasson broadcast ‘Lifeworld’ on screens in iconic public spaces around the world, including Piccadilly Circus; Time Square; and K-Pop Square, Seoul. Commissioned by CIRCA, the short, blurred sequences transported passers-by into a space of uncertainty unlike the highly defined city spaces they are used to.

Located in Berlin, Studio Olafur Eliasson comprises a large team of craftspeople, architects, archivists, researchers, administrators, cooks, art historians, and specialised technicians.

About Wake the Great Salt Lake

Wake the Great Salt Lake is a temporary public art project that aims to educate and inspire residents and visitors to understand and prevent the further decline of the Great Salt Lake. The project is a partnership of the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and is part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge with additional support from Kem and Carolyn Gardner, the Marcia and John Price Family Foundation, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, Zions Bank, Shaelene Gee, the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation, Lawrence T. Janet T. Dee Foundation, Diane and Sam Stewart Family Foundation, Delta Air Lines, GFiber, and other funders. For more information, please visit wakegsl.org

About Salt Lake City Arts Council

The Salt Lake City Arts Council promotes, presents, and supports artists, arts organizations, and arts activities in order to further the development of the arts community and to benefit the public by expanding awareness, access, and participation. For more information, please visit saltlakearts.org

About the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office

Mayor Erin Mendenhall is the mayor of Salt Lake City, the capital and most populous city in Utah, the fastest-growing state in the country. As the hub of the economy, the arts, and sports for the region, Salt Lake City is committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable community. With a focus on quality of life, Salt Lake City continues to be a destination for both residents and visitors alike, having hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and welcoming the world again for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. An elected mayor, who serves as the chief executive, and seven part-time City Council members govern the City. For more information, visit slc.gov.

About the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge

The Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge brings together cities and their leaders, residents, and artists to develop temporary public art projects that address important civic issues in their communities. In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies invited U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more to apply for up to $1 million in funding to create temporary public art projects that address important civic issues and demonstrate an ability to generate public-private collaborations, celebrate creativity and urban identity, and strengthen local economies. More than 150 cities from 40 U.S. states applied. Bloomberg Philanthropies selected eight winning cities, including Salt Lake City, to develop projects focused on local challenges. Since launching in 2014, the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge has spurred more than $100 million in economic benefits for participating cities and action across a range of civic issues. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org.

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