Eliasson Olafur experience

- experience -

The results range from a rainbow created by illuminating water vapour, to a fountain in which the drops of water seem to have been arrested by the use of stroboscopic light. This summer Eliasson intends to eclipse the sun, by placing a second sun forty metres in diameter on the western horizon. Although nothing more than a flat, artificially-lit stage-prop, this sister to the real sun will provide a double sensory experience. ..

Often using light, water and heat, his work explores perception and the viewer's active involvement in the process. In contrast to a previous generation of artists working with natural phenomena, Eliasson's spectacular installations such as this typically reveal how they are constructed. The viewer's sensory experience becomes of primary importance. For the large gallery at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Olafur Eliasson created a new work intended to radically transform the viewer's experience of the space. Using light as his principal material, the installation connected directly with the surrounding landscape beyond the gallery walls.

But when viewed together, the works describe broader themes. Shifting patterns of light, shape, and color emerge when pictures hang side-by-side, and the specifics of a single image give way to an overall subtlety and abstraction. Eliasson's task is not simply to document the details of nature but to foster a more complete visual experience that transcends the subject. For fourteen days he repeatedly descended into the earth's narrow passageways. Being surrounded by the earth became an almost natural state for the artist, who learned to adapt to extreme isolation.

another experience site: http://www.artnet.com/research/index.asp?N=1

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