Olafur Eliasson’s Exhibition
The unique relationship between an artist and an artwork is largely defined by the idea lying at the foundation of an art piece, as well as the unique perspective and the tools that the artist adopts to convey the idea in question. The message behind Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition and the art pieces represented in it is immediately understandable and relatable, being that one of environmentalism and conservation of species, yet how this idea is expressed makes the exhibition stand out tremendously. The inimitable combination of lighting, colors, materials, and perspective helps to represent nature in its symbiotic state, thus allowing viewers to experience it in motion and as a developing organism.
Aesthetic Strategies of the Exhibition (Light as Leitmotif)
The open structure and the use of light as the leitmotif allow conveying the spirit of what Eliasson (2018) called so insightfully the “now-ness” as the “immersion of the visitors in the situation” (p. 23). The described change in the critical perspective applied by viewers is particularly important in the case in point since the author attempts at connecting different manifestations of life at every possible level, from microorganisms to the species that can be observed on the macro-scale. Since the complexity of life as Eliasson intends to portray it cannot possibly be captured by a human eye at once, the artist’s ability to represent the experience as now-ness becomes particularly amazing.
The specified situation harkens back to the concept of territorial art as a model of representing specific phenomena about their specific environment. In turn, Eliasson manages to disrupt the concept of territorial art by making the elements from entirely different realms coexist miraculously in a single fantastic universe. At the same time, the artist’s work reminds the audience that every element observed in it is woven into the greater tapestry of the global environment. Moreover, the exhibition makes it abundantly clear that the inability to see the specified complexity is a limitation of human nature and not proof of the disjointed nature of the environment. Quite the contrary, every single organism lives in symbiosis in it, which the exhibition strives to prove. Thus, the symbiosis that the artist represents allows embracing what Jackson and Hogg (2018) referred to as the dialogue aesthetic, which manifests itself in “openness, listening, and a willingness to accept dependence and intersubjective vulnerability” (p. 11). Indeed, the vulnerable nature of every element of the biosphere becomes apparent after observing Eliasson’s exhibition.
Light – Vibrations
Experiments with color and light also add to the overall impression of awe and amazement as the author manages to make the tiniest elements of the biosphere gain the same scope and importance as its larger aspects. For instance, the combination of browns, blues, and purples in “Symbiotic seeing” helps to introduce homogeneity to seemingly disjointed elements and allows the audience to interpret the installation as a consistent whole. Moreover, the choice of colors contributes to the feeling of movement imbued into the artwork. Although the shapes and serves of its pieces also serve to reinforce the feeling of movement, these are the colors that animate the entire art piece and make it look especially live.
The selection of materials for the exhibition allows supporting the idea of vulnerability particularly strongly. For instance, the use of glass for the exhibitions that are supposed to portray microorganisms serves as a perfect metaphor for the delicate nature of species and the need to preserve nature and the environment with the myriad of species that inhabit the latter. The jellyfish-like artworks that represent a meticulous use of lighting and profound knowledge of the laws of optics in the “Escaped Light Landscape” serve as an especially important reminder of the fragility of nature. Likewise, the glass orbs in “Algae Window” encapsulate the vulnerability of nature by using the material (glass) and lighting masterfully. The constellation of glass orbs arranged according to size creates the impression of the insignificance of individual life forms in the face of the grand construction that the Earth and its environment represents.
“Yes-Engagement Sequence” – Olafur’s Interpretive Approach
The author also uses the concept of the interpretive approach extensively to emphasize the ideas of interrelatedness, the fragility of nature, and symbiosis as the basis for existence. Moreover, the choice of the perspective ad especially the application of foreshortening as the means of juxtaposing the massive size of macro-elements of the environment and the minuscule characteristics of some of its microorganisms is worth mentioning. Specifically, the fact that the lighting, particularly in the composition above, allows dispersing the audience’s attention among the entirety of the elements that the art piece incorporates helps to render the feeling of grandeur. Eliasson explains the importance of the use of foreshortening in highlighting the size and scope of objects using a similar example: “A spiraling ramp benefits from the fact that there’s no central point from which it can be experienced in its entirety” (Eliasson 162). Therefore, the use of perspective as an attempt at manipulating the correlation between form, size, and space helps to create an inimitable experience for viewers and convey the fragility of nature particularly poignantly.
Parallax Planet
The “Parallax Planet” as one of the key elements of the exhibition represents most of the characteristics ad ideas illustrated above. Created with glass and using lighting in a very intricate fashion, the art piece helps to convey the sense of fragility and the importance of every element of the micro-environment to sustain the macro one. In addition, in the context of the “Yes-Engagement” sequence, the specified art piece contributes to the idea of inviting viewers to contemplate the essence of the artwork and the concepts that it is supposed to represent. as a result, viewers become engaged in the support of environmentalism and the philosophy of placing every single element of it into a single framework. As a result, the importance of sustainability becomes apparent, and the role of humankind in maintaining it is unwrapped gradually.
The introduction of the parallax effect into the artwork and making it the centerpiece of the art piece has also contributed to conveying the message of unifying the elements of nature into a single entity that the Earth and its environment represent. Although the idea of turning images upside down to stir the audience’s attention is far from being new, it works in the specified setting as a breath of fresh air due to the choice of the artistic medium and the subject under discussion. Using the shapes reminiscent of drops of water, Eliasson creates the image that reminds his audience of droplets of water, thus closing the cycle of his reiterations of the elements of the environment. Using water and a glass sphere, the artist allows the “parallax Planet” to represent the complexity of life in all its representation and the multitude o ways of looking at it.
Algae window
Remarkably, Eliasson’s work emphasizes the role of material as a tool for expressivity but not as a means of altering the message. Instead, the author views the choice of resources as the process of choosing the tools that work in the context of a particular creation and allow amplifying the idea behind the art piece. According to Eliasson (2018), “It’s about understanding the true nature of the principle: at some point, it simply doesn’t matter whether a wooden or a metal beam is used in an installation, because the principle of the work doesn’t necessarily change even though the material does” (366). Thus, in the case in point, the use of glass as the shorthand for expressing fragility serves its purpose because the artist has made the most of the properties that glass provides as a material for expressing the identified concepts. The sentiment expressed by Eliasson, however, should not be seen as an attempt to devalue the choice of material as the method of expressivity; instead, the author appears to be claiming that he can make any resource work by using its advantages and unique characteristics while creating an art piece. In the glass, these were its transparency and refraction capacity that allowed Eliasson to construct the art piece that promoted the notion of fragility and the importance of considering nature in its complexity and multitude of variations.
References
Eliasson, O. (2018). Experience. New York, NY: Phaidon Press.
Jackson II, R. L., & Hogg, M. A. (Eds.). (2018). Encyclopedia of identity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.