Brilliant Ideas Episode #32: Olafur Eliasson

Chateau de Versailles in France, where the glory of the Sun King Louis XIV’s era remains, has held a large-scaled yearly solo exhibition of selected contemporary artists around the world since 2008; Olafur Eliasson was chosen for the year 2016. Focusing on the architectural structure of the display space divided into a palace and a garden, Eliasson presented pieces harmonized with the both parts of the palace. He always brought the palace’s floor plan with him to study it anywhere he went during preparation for the exhibition, devoting himself to maximize the effects of the place and his works at the same time. The artist chose two elements for the exhibition: light and water. Inside the extravagant palace with luxurious ornaments were placed artworks representing light, while the enormous garden with dozens of fountains and canals housed works displaying water. In the Hall of Mirrors, allegedly the most glamorous place in Chateau de Versailles was presented <Your Sense of Unity>(2016). With the work consisting of six large loops emitting strong LED light arranged in a circle, the light was endlessly reflected from the mirrors covering the walls and two additional mirrors installed by the artist, creating a mirage-like space. The viewers had a mysterious experience, seeing the light along with the sight of the place and themselves repeated on the mirrors, as if traveling back and forth between the past and present of the palace.

Nature is the subject matter that can be found from all of Eliasson’s works. Considering art “experiencing other people’s thoughts,” he searched for a subject that everyone could understand and experience beyond the barriers of language and culture. By selecting “the nature” as his subject, which everyone can feel and empathize with, the artist started to make artworks that could be interpreted differently according to one’s experiences. As the nature is always near us, we often cannot recognize every little component of it; Eliasson draws the little things of the nature onto his works and adds an artistic touch. Amplifying natural phenomena with the power of science or creating a supernatural pseudo-nature beyond one’s imitation, his artworks send a clear meaning to the extent that anyone who did not know about the artist can easily comprehend and feel empathy towards the pieces.

Eliasson’s art continues even outside the exhibition space. Performed at places such as Iceland, Tokyo, and Stockholm in 1998, the ‘Green River’ project changed rivers entirely green with environmentally-harmless green dyes secretly released at the upper stream. The cities faced with rivers suddenly turned into green saw fierce controversies and responds, making people rethink about human perception of the nature.
Treating the nature as his subject matter everyone can empathize with based on his correct understanding on scientific technology, Eliasson provides new experiences that we could not ever think of. In order to break the stereotype that art is something profound, and to create artworks that anyone can interpret in their own ways, the artist still continues to explore. ■ with ARTINPOST

Perception, movement, bodily experience and feeling of self, all these factors led Olafur Eliasson to the art world. And for him, art is the turning point for a new direction. His works-sculpture, painting, photography, film, installation-explore various relationships between art and real world. Therefore Eliasson’s works are installed not only in museums and galleries but also in public spaces and architectural projects.
Born in 1967, Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1995, he moved to Berlin and set up Studio Olafur Eliasson which now is operated by 90 staffs; technicians, architects, archivists, art historians, and others. Since 1990, he participated in several exhibitions including exhibitions at the ‘50th Venice Biennale’, Tate modern’s Turbine Hall, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York(MoMA). Recently, he had a large scale solo exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.