The Artwork of Olafur Eliasson

This summer I spent two weeks in Denmark and while I was there, I had the privilege to experience some of the artwork of Olafur Eliasson. The Danish-Icelandic artist is known for his sculptures and large-scale installation art bringing together elements like light, water and even air temperature to impact the audience/viewer experience.

In Aarhus, I experienced Your rainbow panorama, which is a permanent work consisting of a circular glass walkway spanning the colors of the spectrum. The panorama ‘floats’ on the roof of the Aros art museum with a recreational / viewing platform below, allowing visitors to experience the rainbow panorama from below as well. Visitors are allowed to access the panorama and walk the circle with views to the city below. While I was there a group of students were tasked with identifying key buildings in the city and the color through which you could view them. Other visitors where methodically documenting the slices of color with their cameras. I love viewing cities from above because I gain a sense of the consistency (or lack thereof) of the overall architecture, roof lines and materials. Your rainbow panorama afforded me that experience without the stomach-drop feeling I usually have when I climb to the top of a church steeple (which I did do in Copenhagen).

Eliasson describes Your rainbow panorama as such;
“Your rainbow panorama establishes a dialogue with the existing architecture and reinforces what was already there, that is to say the view across the city. I have created a space that can almost be said to erase the boundary between inside and outside – a place where you become a little uncertain as to whether you have stepped into a work of art or into part of the museum. This uncertainty is important to me, as it encourages people to think and sense beyond the limits within which they are accustomed to function.”

I spent my second week in Copenhagen and travelled to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, located 25 miles north of Copenhagen. The museum is located on the coast and brings together landscape, architecture and art. The museum itself was a treat – sweeping views across the Sound of Sweden combined with sculpture installations and a real integration of landscape and art. Here I viewed two more installations of Eliasson’s work – Model room and Riverbed. Additionally, the museum features 3 video works by Eliasson; Movement microscope, Your embodied garden and Innen Stadt Aussen.

Model room displays approximately 400 geometric models. Each model is intricate and carefully crafted. Riverbed transforms an entire wing of the museum into a rocky landscape, connecting several linked rooms and highlighting the museum’s unique relationship to nature and art. Like Your rainbow panorama, Riverbed questions how we engage with art – how active is the experience and how does the art engage its environment. Both installations demand specificity of location. While my trip to the Louisana delayed my visit to Kronborg Castle in Helsingor (“Hamlet’s Castle”) and I arrived too late to take a tour; it was totally worth it. The views are incredible and the integration of architecture and landscape is a delight to experience as is the varied art collection.