Eliasson, Olafur

▪ 2009

born 1967, Copenhagen, Den.

      On June 26, 2008, in an astounding merger of art, engineering, and natural phenomena, Olafur Eliasson's four man-made waterfalls were turned on along New York City's waterfront. For three and a half months, the waterfalls' scaffolding structures, which ranged from 27 to 36 m (90 to 120 ft) high and up to 14 m (45 ft) across, pumped cascades of water into the East River in lower Manhattan. This spectacular installation coincided with the exhibition Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson at the Museum of Modern Art and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in New York City, the first comprehensive U.S. survey of his work, which began its tour in 2007 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition highlighted Eliasson's exploration of man-made and natural forces through his multifaceted artistic oeuvre of sculpture, photography, and immersive architectural installations.

      Eliasson spent his childhood in Denmark and Iceland, where the unique terrain informed his use of elemental materials such as light, water, and temperature. From 1989 to 1995 he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He began gaining international attention in the early 1990s with groundbreaking sculptures and installations that employed illusory tools along with intentionally simple mechanics. Later in his career, he divided his time between Copenhagen and his studio in Berlin, where projects were conceptualized and constructed by a team of architects, engineers, and assistants. Eliasson's early interest in natural phenomena and perception led him to create works that simultaneously sparked and challenged the senses. In Your Strange Certainty Still Kept (1996), droplets of water were frozen in midair through the use of a perforated hose and strobe lights. Ventilator (1997) incorporated a menacing electric fan swinging from a ceiling. In Room for One Colour (1997), he flooded a room with saturated yellow light, causing all other colours to be perceived as black. Conversely, in 360° Room for all Colours (2002), a circular space changed colours almost imperceptibly.

      Eliasson increasingly focused on built environments and site-specific works. In 2003 he represented Denmark in the 50th Venice Biennale with The Blind Pavilion, an architectural structure made of alternating black opaque and transparent glass panels that created disorienting reflections for visitors walking through. That same year he exhibited The Weather Project at Tate Modern in London, a 15-m (50-ft)-diameter orb resembling a dark afternoon sun made of 200 yellow lamps, diffusing screen, fog, and mirrors. During its five-month installation, more than two million visitors basked in the sun's artificial glow, interacting with the constructed environment as if it were the product of nature. With these projects and others, Eliasson kept a consistent emphasis on the critical role of the viewer in the materialization of the artwork such that the experience remained transformative, varied, and ultimately dependent on its audience.

Michal Raz-Russo

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