From museums to the Brooklyn Bridge, Olafur Eliasson’s art will be everywhere in New York this summer.

Take a tour of this world-renowned installation artist’s studio with the artist himself, and get a sneak peak of his exhibitions in New York with the curator of the Museum of Modern Art. The Impending Deluge
This summer, the New York City Waterfalls will thrill art lovers.
New York City is not afraid of massive temporary public art installations. After the success of Cristo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates” in Central Park in 2003, gigantic public art returns to the Big Apple with a series of waterfalls that Olafur Eliasson will build in the East River.
The four waterfalls, ranging from 90 to 120 feet tall, will cascade down and around the Brooklyn Bridge, and will be viewable from the river’s banks in Manhattan and Brooklyn for three months starting in June.
Construction has been ongoing since the early days of April, and Eliasson and his funder—the Public Art Fund, a private nonprofit organization—are intent on building them as eco-friendly as possible.
To lower the exhibit’s carbon footprint, the waterfalls will be lit only from dusk until 10 pm and will be powered by renewable resources. And, they have promised that the plunging water will not harm any fish.
When announcing the project in January, echoing the sentiments of many New Yorkers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg asserted, “we are exceptionally thrilled that internationally renowned artist Olafur Eliasson has chosen New York City as his latest canvas.”
As most things go in New York, not everyone is convinced. Public art of this scale requires an enormous amount of cash, and although it will pull in tourist dollars, some art critics still consider it a folly. Writing for artnet magazine, Charlie Finch declared that “if justice and responsibility reigned, these waterfalls would burn.”
However, Eliasson has shown that his installations can be successful both aesthetically and economically. His 2003 “The Weather Project” installation in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall stunned viewers with mist, mirrors and 200 monofilament light bulbs.
The result? A glowing sun and 2 million visitors.