The Elemental Expressions of Olafur Eliasson
 |
| Round Rainbow |
Art comes in many forms, but one thing all those forms have in common is their rather hopeless dependence on light – something to bear in mind on this, the shortest day of the year. Without this miraculous form of energy you wouldn't know the difference between an old master, an abstract expressionist canvas, or an unopened pot of paint.
One artist who has realized this truism more than most is the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, who has made the 'light bridge' between art object and audience the focus of much of his work – along with other basic elemental forces, like water, light, temperature, and pressure. For his first solo show in Japan, at Tokyo's Hara Museum, the emphasis is mainly on light and shadow, with water playing a supporting role.
Internationally acclaimed, following his "Weather Project" at London's Tate Modern in 2003, when he played God by installing a giant sun-like disc and controlling the atmosphere and mood of the Tate's massive central atrium, Eliasson is now expanding his profile in Japan with the present show and a future project for a permanent installation on the roof of the art deco building that is home to the Hara.
According to museum curator Yoko Nakamura, the project involves using a large mirror and prism to collect and project sunlight onto a North-facing screen mounted on the museum's roof. It seems something of an ironic coincidence that this installation – if it is ever installed – will end up creating the illusion of sunlight coming from the North, metaphorically mirroring the relationship of this Danish-born artist of Icelandic ancestry to his fast-growing fan base.
"Actually he wants to deny his Northern roots," Nakamura says. Nevertheless there is something peculiarly Scandinavian about an artist who is both self-effacing about his own culture as well as obsessed by the element of light – something to do with those long artic winters, no doubt.
Among the works on display only one, Camera Obscura (1999), directly uses sunlight. This is simply a glass and an acrylic lens set in the wall of a darkened space within the museum, with a screen to catch the light from the garden outside. Partially out of focus and upside down, the scene presented has the soft, ambiguous look of an impressionist painting.
The other light works use artificial light sources, either spotlights, halogen bulbs, or in Room for One Color and Windy Corner (1998) monofrequency lights with converters that spread the light so evenly that it eerily seems more like a peculiar shade of wallpaper than a type of energy.
The most effective works use powerful spotlights. Round Rainbow (2005) and Color Space Embracer (2005), which, like all the installations here, take up a room each, use a spotlight beam directed onto a slowly moving object, creating mesmerizing light effects. Round Rainbow has a slowly rotating acrylic glass ring that acts light a prism, splitting the white light into a rainbow that gradually shuffles its colors and arcs on the walls of the gallery. Color Space Embracer achieves even more magical effects by passing the light through three rotating color effect filter cylinders that slowly revolve on the same axis, adding colors to the light rather than breaking it to reveal the spectrum within.
Nakamura points out that much of what is on display is 'physics 101.'
"Eliasson is a combination of artist and scientist," she says. "When he came here for the opening, he often referred to his studio as his 'lab.' He's not a specialist in math or physics, but he's interested enough in these areas to achieve the effects he wants with some trial and error."
Looking at the rings of light weaving slow hypnotic patterns on the wall, it is easy to see something cosmic or spiritual in this art. Shadow Lamp (2005) even reminded me briefly of Plato's Parable of the Cave.
According to Nakamura such profound responses are not his intention.
"He said people may have religious or mystical responses to his art if they want, but that’s not particularly the message. In his view these are just machines that produce effects."
One of the effects produced by an installation reminded me of nothing so much as the Scottish – or possibly Danish – weather. Beauty (1993), uses a plastic pipe with nozzles to create fine, mist-like rain, through which an angled beam of light creates a rainbow that moves as the viewer moves. This highlights one of Eliasson's main interests, making the viewer aware of how he interacts with and perceives the art and the space.
As we walk around the rainbow, we reach the point that Eliasson has described as 'seeing yourself sensing.' This is further connected to his interest in the way we experience nature, or the 'invisible antagonism between nature and culture.' In Eliasson's view all our perceptions of nature are shaped by culture, so that the very idea of 'nature' is itself artificial and manmade, just like the waterfall and light source in Beauty.
The perfect example that Eliassson gave, when he came for the opening, was Mount Fuji, Nakamura recalls.
"He said that even Mt. Fuji is not natural, because the way we see it is so deeply connected with Japanese culture."
Anybody who has ever climbed that giant ash-heap will know exactly what he means.
C.B.Liddell
The Japan Times
22nd December, 2005
One artist who has realized this truism more than most is the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, who has made the 'light bridge' between art object and audience the focus of much of his work – along with other basic elemental forces, like water, light, temperature, and pressure. For his first solo show in Japan, at Tokyo's Hara Museum, the emphasis is mainly on light and shadow, with water playing a supporting role.
Internationally acclaimed, following his "Weather Project" at London's Tate Modern in 2003, when he played God by installing a giant sun-like disc and controlling the atmosphere and mood of the Tate's massive central atrium, Eliasson is now expanding his profile in Japan with the present show and a future project for a permanent installation on the roof of the art deco building that is home to the Hara.
According to museum curator Yoko Nakamura, the project involves using a large mirror and prism to collect and project sunlight onto a North-facing screen mounted on the museum's roof. It seems something of an ironic coincidence that this installation – if it is ever installed – will end up creating the illusion of sunlight coming from the North, metaphorically mirroring the relationship of this Danish-born artist of Icelandic ancestry to his fast-growing fan base.
"Actually he wants to deny his Northern roots," Nakamura says. Nevertheless there is something peculiarly Scandinavian about an artist who is both self-effacing about his own culture as well as obsessed by the element of light – something to do with those long artic winters, no doubt.
Among the works on display only one, Camera Obscura (1999), directly uses sunlight. This is simply a glass and an acrylic lens set in the wall of a darkened space within the museum, with a screen to catch the light from the garden outside. Partially out of focus and upside down, the scene presented has the soft, ambiguous look of an impressionist painting.
The other light works use artificial light sources, either spotlights, halogen bulbs, or in Room for One Color and Windy Corner (1998) monofrequency lights with converters that spread the light so evenly that it eerily seems more like a peculiar shade of wallpaper than a type of energy.
The most effective works use powerful spotlights. Round Rainbow (2005) and Color Space Embracer (2005), which, like all the installations here, take up a room each, use a spotlight beam directed onto a slowly moving object, creating mesmerizing light effects. Round Rainbow has a slowly rotating acrylic glass ring that acts light a prism, splitting the white light into a rainbow that gradually shuffles its colors and arcs on the walls of the gallery. Color Space Embracer achieves even more magical effects by passing the light through three rotating color effect filter cylinders that slowly revolve on the same axis, adding colors to the light rather than breaking it to reveal the spectrum within.
Nakamura points out that much of what is on display is 'physics 101.'
 |
| Shadow Lamp |
Looking at the rings of light weaving slow hypnotic patterns on the wall, it is easy to see something cosmic or spiritual in this art. Shadow Lamp (2005) even reminded me briefly of Plato's Parable of the Cave.
According to Nakamura such profound responses are not his intention.
"He said people may have religious or mystical responses to his art if they want, but that’s not particularly the message. In his view these are just machines that produce effects."
One of the effects produced by an installation reminded me of nothing so much as the Scottish – or possibly Danish – weather. Beauty (1993), uses a plastic pipe with nozzles to create fine, mist-like rain, through which an angled beam of light creates a rainbow that moves as the viewer moves. This highlights one of Eliasson's main interests, making the viewer aware of how he interacts with and perceives the art and the space.
As we walk around the rainbow, we reach the point that Eliasson has described as 'seeing yourself sensing.' This is further connected to his interest in the way we experience nature, or the 'invisible antagonism between nature and culture.' In Eliasson's view all our perceptions of nature are shaped by culture, so that the very idea of 'nature' is itself artificial and manmade, just like the waterfall and light source in Beauty.
The perfect example that Eliassson gave, when he came for the opening, was Mount Fuji, Nakamura recalls.
"He said that even Mt. Fuji is not natural, because the way we see it is so deeply connected with Japanese culture."
Anybody who has ever climbed that giant ash-heap will know exactly what he means.
C.B.Liddell
The Japan Times
22nd December, 2005
Post A Comment
No comments :