photo: NAKAMICHI Atsushi / Nacása & Partners

Colour activity house

ArtistOlafur ELIASSON
Year2010
Material/ Techniqueglass, stainless steel, PVB film
Size/ DurationH300 × φ1000cm
Copyright Notice© 2010 Olafur ELIASSON
Year of acquisition/ donation2010
DescriptionBorn in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1967. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Interested in how humans perceive visible phenomena, Olafur Eliasson is known for works, which pursue the process of how human perceptions are formed using media such as light, water, colors and mirrors. He is open about how phenomena unfolded before the viewer’s eyes are created, and rather than scrutinizing scientific mechanism of perceptive ability, many of his works give the viewer genuine joy and pleasure to watch. He is also positive about working for huge projects and is involved in architecture as one of his important prospects.

"La si tuazione ant ispet t iva (The Ant ispect ive Situation)" shows a process in which geometric forms such as polyhedrons or spirals come together to approximate organic shapes. The inside has a mirror finish and the images reflected on its many facets are scattered like a kaleidoscope. Colour activity house is a circular sculpture constructed of three curved glass walls that slightly overlap. It has a satellite relationship to the circular form of the museum building, and the space surrounded by colored glass is designed so that the physical movement of visitors passing through it directly effects what they see. "In Your watercolour horizon", an HMI lamp and prism are placed in the center of a circular container filled with water. Visitors can interact with it by pressing a foot pedal to strike the bottom of the container with a hammer, causing ripples to spread out on the surface of the water. The light passing through the prism in the rippling water projects a wavering rainbow on the walls of the darkened exhibition room. This approach of effecting change in conditions around the work by viewer intervention is a typical feature of Eliasson’s work.

PageTop