Olafur Eliasson

The works of the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson hover on the threshold between nature and technology, between the organic and the industrial. Eliasson’s art has been described as a sort of techno-romanticism, as he often includes modern technology in his art. Nature is present in the ephemeral fragments; immaterial factors such as temperature, smell, taste, air and magnetic waves become his sculptural means. Eliasson is fundamentally concerned with creating art that asks questions about our human perception of reality; his works draw associations to land art and architecture, the romanticism of nature and natural science.

The exhibition in the Astrup Fearnley Museum will focus upon Eliasson’s light-installations. A constantly recurring theme for him is how the eye perceives colour, and how the participating subject reacts emotionally to colour. In Room For All Colours (1998), the participant finds herself in a room filled with a yellow light that affects the perception of all other colours. Another installation, 360 degrees Room For All Colours (2002), is a round light-sculpture where participants loose their sense of space and perspective, and experience being subsumed by an intense light. The presence of the participating subject and the effects of the light are also decisive aspects in the tunnel sculpture Your Spiral View (2002), where subjects are invited to wander through a sculpture composed of steel elements with glassy interiors that render back fragmented reflections. Eliasson has also composed sculptures consisting only of light: the 3-D light-sculpture A Description of a Reflection (1995), floats in the midst of the room: it is an ephemeral structure, visible yet impalpable. Olafur Eliasson has become a significant international artist; in 2003 he represents Denmark at the Venice Biennale, and on October 15, 2003 a large exhibition of his work will open at the Tate Modern in London. Pressetext

Olafur Eliasson - White Light