Culture“Engaging with art can make the world felt. And this felt feeling spurs thinking, connection, and even action.”
— Olafur Eliasson, artist and founder of Little Sun
Art and culture hold great potential to move us. We see artists constantly searching for new and unconventional paradigms, challenging old belief systems. Artists give voice to untold stories, encouraging us to identify with one another. They can broaden the idea of what constitutes we, motivating us to question what is possible.
We believe that in order to create a world that thrives, we must urgently shift our perspective and turn conversations often centered around fear and data, into conversations that center on feeling and hope for all.
That’s why we’re investing in culture programs, engaging artists and creative voices to craft new narratives about renewable energy and climate action, to create new spaces that inspire and ignite the imagination.
Our culture programs encourage us all to feel what it is to be human. To dream big and move together to create the world we want.
Grace of the Sun
Grace of the Sun is a solar powered light poem that urged commitment to renewable energy at the UN climate conference (COP26). Created by Scottish artist Robert Montgomery, the artwork has been constructed using 1,000 solar powered Little Sun lights and stood 11 meters wide and 5 meters tall. The giant solar light poem illuminated every day at sunset as a poetic beacon of hope for Glasgow.
The installation is part of Reach for the Sun, a digital campaign that aims to engage creatives in the global transition to renewable energy and highlight the power of solar to tackle climate change. It calls for immediate investment in renewable energy on a mass scale and the acceleration of net-zero carbon emissions globally.
After the artwork’s installation in Glasgow, the work will be dismantled and the lights will join our wider efforts to provide clean, affordable solar power to the 600 million people living without electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, where we have brought solar light and power to over 3 million people to date.
The project is enabled by global green energy tech pioneer Octopus Energy Group and supported by Montgomery’s agency MTArt Agency, specialists in sustainable art production, the first certified B Corp®️ UK company within the art sector and a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition.
“Instead of looking under the ground for energy we should have all along been looking up. A solution is visible to us all the time, every day: the sun.”
— Robert Montgomery
Fast Forward: Five Artists Share Their Dreams For a Regenerative World
Have you ever imagined what it would look like to have tackled climate change, and created a thriving, balanced world? At Little Sun, we believe that’s where artists come in, to help us bring about what’s possible by giving us the inspiration and hope we need to create something better.
As part of our culture program, we commissioned five artists from Ethiopia, Senegal, and the United States—some of the regions in which we operate—to explore what a more sustainable and just future looks like.
After many months of research, conversations, and filming, we are delighted to present you Fast Forward, a series of short films exploring artists’ dreams for a regenerative world. Featuring over 300 global voices, the short films were made by artists Ezra Wube, Ghost of a Dream, Naod Lemma, Jessica Segall, and Selly Raby Kane.
“Little Sun’s Fast Forward film series offers a vital new space for artists to reimagine the future.”
— Olafur Eliasson, artist and founder of Little Sun
Reach for the Sun: Ten Steps to Creating a Solar Powered World
We are grasping for solutions to the causes and consequences of the climate crisis. And yet a solution is visible to us all the time, every day. We see it every time we look out of the window in the morning, when we go to a beach, or take a walk. Introducing, the sun.
Reach for the Sun is a new campaign produced by Little Sun, illustrated by Diana Ejaita and supported by the IKEA Foundation; designed to inspire, inform and activate those concerned by climate change from artists to organizations and activists alike.
“Let’s reach for the sun, and take the power of the future into our own hands. Bringing solar energy to everyone is simple: it starts with you.”
— Olafur Eliasson
The Little Sun solar lamp and symbol, based on the Ethiopian Adey Abeba flower, a national symbol of positivity and beauty, resonates with people on an emotional level – it communicates a universal message of hope and connectivity. It also allows people to hold the power of the sun in their hand and imagine a better future.
We use this symbol in innovative ways around the world to ignite global conversation about the future of our planet and to tap into a vast network of artists and cultural institutions to inspire people around climate action.