Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Olafur Eliasson Creates Fantastical Realms through Immersive Mirror Installations

With a focus on light and perspective, Olafur Eliasson’s installations have a transformative capacity that allows the viewer to experience the illusion of a supernatural environment. In an interstitial space of the Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, Gravity Stairs is composed of glowing spheres which, attached to the ceiling and bathed in warm yellow light, resemble the sun. The otherworldly light and a mirror on the ceiling present an impression of floating through space and among celestial bodies.

With a focus on light and perspective, Olafur Eliasson’s installations have a transformative capacity that allows the viewer to experience the illusion of a supernatural environment. In an interstitial space of the Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, Gravity Stairs is composed of glowing spheres which, attached to the ceiling and bathed in warm yellow light, resemble the sun. The otherworldly light and a mirror on the ceiling present an impression of floating through space and among celestial bodies.

Mirrors are essential to the magic of Eliasson’s work, which often challenges an individual’s usual relation to space and acts as a humble reminder of one’s minuscule place within the vast universe. While Gravity Stairs certainly achieves this effect through large-scale installation, the same impact is present in Eliasson’s smaller-scaled works, such as the recent Your Fading Other. Installed in the corner of a white-walled room, partially silvered glass is raised on a cold concrete block, creating the illusion of a room beyond. A desk is in the unreachable distance and fades into the background, imbuing one with a sense of loss and unreachable dreams.

The piece follows a 2012 sculpture, Your Arctic View, exhibited in 2013 at a solo show at neugerriemschneider in Berlin. Shown alongside thee other mirror works, Your Arctic View engages the viewer in a dance with one’s reflection, veiled under what appears to be a thick cloud of fog. Just as Gravity Stairs challenges one to imagine the feeling of falling toward the sun, Your Arctic View engages the viewer in the big-picture question of what it would be like to disappear. The effects can be utterly emancipating or perfectly catastrophic.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Crystal Wagner’s otherworldly installations are both spellbinding and unsettling. The works resemble something organic, yet are constructed from paper, wire, wood, paint, sealant, and other materials. Her recent pieces are part of the new show "Dimensions of Three" at Allouche Gallery in New York City, along with Martin Gremse and Reinoud Oudshoorn. The show starts Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 31. The artist was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 41, and she last appeared on our website here.
Swiss artists Pablo Togni and Christian Rebecchi join forces for a variety of interdisciplinary art projects as NEVERCREW. The duo is known for their large scaled murals and public art initiatives that share common grounds with not only graffiti, but illustration and graphic design as well. Their integrative style explores the relationship between public space, the artwork and the viewer — the strong interaction among the elements creates a balanced whole.
With the installation "Plastic Bag Store," Robin Frohardt offers a fictional store with each product entirely comprised of plastic bags, emulating the shapes and colors of typical grocery items. The "store" is open Sept. 14-23 at Current Artspace + Studio in Chapel Hill, N.C. The project is a fully formed space reminiscent of Lucy Sparrow’s all-felt store, featured in Hi-Fructose Volume 45.
Little is known about Japanese artist trio three. The young, anonymous artist collective utilizes toys and other childhood ephemera to create provocative installations and sculptures. Action figures and rubber figurines are melted into fleshy masses. The artists create complex, geometric forms out of the liquified toys, forming them into patters that alternate distinguishable characters' faces and anonymous, tan blobs where limbs and bodies used to be. Micro elements accumulate into overwhelming conglomerations that challenge the viewer's eye to distinguish their many details.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List