Famous Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has never been to a NBA game, but as a 10-year-old in Copenhagen he attended an exhibition by the Harlem Globetrotters. Enough of the magic from those showmen stuck with Eliasson to resonate in “Seeing spheres,” the signature artwork at Chase Center, new home of the Golden State Warriors.

Eliasson’s massive waterfront work consists of five 15-foot polished steel balls arranged in a circle to create a walk-through, 24-hour house of mirrors. Currently hidden behind a construction fence, it will be unveiled at a private ceremony at 9 a.m. Sept. 3 and open to the public on Sept. 4. Among those who will gather to see it on location for the first time is Eliasson, who designed the work at his studio in Berlin, fabricated it in Amsterdam, then shipped it through the Panama Canal for installation.

“Seeing spheres” will be Eliasson’s first permanent piece on the West Coast and his largest in the United States. It’s enough to be nervous about, and he admits he is — but not about the debut of his art. He’s nervous about meeting Warriors players. His 15-year-old son Zakarias is counting on him.

“I won’t be a good dad if I don’t bring back some signatures,” the 52-year-old artist says by phone from Reykjavik, Iceland. For the first time, my son actually thinks I am doing something interesting.”

Zak is a hard one to impress, because his dad once had 100 tons of glacier ice blocks delivered to downtown Copenhagen, a temporary installation that went over so well he did it again in London. He also built a working waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge.

But Eliasson does not see himself as a conceptual artist or an interventionist. He says he is “just a normal artist who works in many forms.” Eliasson likes to put those forms where people tend to congregate, and sports arenas are good places to find that element.

“I’m quite fascinated by the gathering places where civil society meets,” he says. “I’m interested in the public spectacle.”

“Seeing spheres” is not intended as a game-day attraction. It is meant to stand alone, which is why it is located at the backside of the arena, facing the bay. Just to find it from the main entrance on Third Street, you’ll have to go around the building.

“It is not only nice when it is really crowded,” he says. “It is quite beautiful if you are there in the early morning by yourself. It is like a kaleidoscope.”

The idea of a kaleidoscope brings to mind “Take Your Time,” Eliasson’s previous Bay Area installation in 2007 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was his first solo exhibition at an American museum — and he made it count by walling in the fifth-floor pedestrian bridge to create a hall of shimmering glass called “One-Way Colour Tunnel.”

Walking through it was an experience not to be forgotten — and Dorka Keehn, principal of Keehn on Art, a San Francisco consultancy that specializes in public art, never did forget it.

Five years ago, Keehn was hired by the Warriors to design a public art master plan for Chase Center. She studied the site for four months before coming to the conclusion that the biggest impact would be one piece by one artist: Eliasson.

“He is all about a direct relationship with the art, being in it and around it, Keehn says. “His work deals with the environment and the senses.”

Keehn had never met Eliasson in person, but after “One-Way Colour Tunnel” she flew to New York just to feel the spray of his “The New York City Waterfalls” at the Brooklyn Bridge.

“I was always very interested in bringing Olafur to San Francisco,” she says.

Keehn has been involved with big public art projects in the city for years, including “The Bay Lights” on the Bay Bridge and “Day for Night” atop Salesforce Tower. She can envision how something will look from across town, across the water and on TV.

“The money shot is the helicopter coming over the bay and it swoops in and sees the arena with the art in front of it” Keehn says. “We didn’t want to put it on the main plaza because there was going to be too much activity out there. You can’t have a massive artwork out there with farmers’ markets and ice rinks.”

Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber could see her point. They agreed to invest their art budget in a multimillion-dollar commission without holding a competition.

Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin is a full-service shop with architects, artisans and technicians, and he estimates that 120 people have worked on “Seeing spheres.” Each 15-foot orb weighs 2 tons and was formed by a hydroform process that uses water pressure to create the shape, a process popular in auto manufacturing. Eliasson says these are the largest spheres on Earth to be created by hydroform.

Ten tons of polished steel arrived by barge at the Port of San Francisco. On July 29, in the dead of night, they were trucked to Mission Bay, a project that required temporarily removing overhead Muni wires. The mirrored front of each sphere is flat and framed in LED light, so they will faintly glow at night and be visible from the arena lobby through a wall of glass as tall as the building.

Eliasson plans to see it from that perspective while attending his first Warriors game. His son has explained the importance of that.

“When I’m in America, I am so stupid. I only go to museums,” he says, with a laugh. “But now I am a fan of my new team.”

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