Olafur Eliasson on sparking wonder and different ways of seeing at his latest solo show at Singapore Art Museum

Over the last three decades, Olafur Eliasson has built a sun inside the Tate Modern, set up a kitchen in his Berlin studio that’s frequented by everyone from artist Ai Weiwei to actress Meryl Streep, founded a social company – Little Sun – that brings solar lamps to off-grid communities, and even danced in a music video. Through it all, the common thread that ties the Icelandic-Danish artist’s experiments together is their ability to inspire a sense of child-like wonder and invite multiple perspectives. In doing so, viewers are encouraged to reflect on how they see and interact with the world around them.

Eliasson’s first major solo show in Southeast Asia, “Your curious journey”, is on view at Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark until 22 September 2024, after which it will travel to Auckland, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila. As curious viewers line up to walk through these 17 mesmerising artworks, Eliasson talks about how locality and audience perspectives play a crucial role in shaping the experience of his immersive, surreal landscapes. 

The way we relate to the world – and to each other, or to society, or to systems in general – is constantly changing. And for me, maintaining a relationship with how other people see the world keeps things interesting. Very often, people who look at my work see something that I had maybe felt, but not thought of. I consider that experience to be part of the work. It adds value to it, and I find it incredibly inspiring to talk with my team, with curators and with the audience.

“The act of walking through the work, is the work”

 

This is especially the case for works that you have to walk through, and the act of walking through it is the work. Like the yellow monochromatic light corridor, or some of the shadow pieces. These are not pieces where one thing is the artwork, and the other is the narrative. There is an element of play, or theatre – it’s all part of the experience.

In this interactive work titled The cubic structural evolution project, the audience is encouraged to construct their vision of a cityscape using white Lego blocks. The work is never finished, and each iteration evolves as it is shaped by those who interact with it. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

What I hope is that people see themselves in the works, as everyone is different and people see things differently. I think it’s worth pointing out that sometimes a person from Singapore may have a lot in common with someone from Denmark, and less so with another person from Singapore.

I also hope the works lend themselves to a reading that is very site-specific. Even though I’m showing almost the same pieces for this exhibition as it travels to different places, they’re going to take on very different meanings. The same way that a work would be very different if you hang it in a kindergarten rather than a police station. So I hope that the works retain this sensitivity to the local environment, and people see not just the works, but how they correspond with the social, political and cultural contexts in which they’re shown.

Exhibition view of “Your curious journey” at Singapore Art Museum. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

“Sometimes a person from Singapore may have a lot in common with someone from Denmark, and less so with another person from Singapore”

An example of this site specificity is The cubic structural evolution project, which is a very large table with white Lego bricks. In Singapore, the work is shown in a gallery that has a fantastic view of the [Keppel] harbour, even though you wouldn’t normally consider shipping containers and cranes as something nice. People like to say things like, “Oh, [Lego] that’s for the youths.” But no, it is to make older people young again, you know?

Four works not to be missed at “Your curious journey”

1. Symbiotic seeing (2020)
This ethereal work leaves you in awe of Eliasson’s ability to create beauty out of thin air. With just some precisely tuned lasers and a fog machine, it transports you to an underwater sunset. Or is it an oil slick? You decide.

Housed in a large, circular room, Symbiotic seeing feels like an optical illusion that occupies all three states of matter at once. As yellow and cyan lasers illuminate a thin layer of fog, it creates a ceiling that resembles swirling ripples. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

2. Beauty (1993)
If you’ve ever daydreamed about what it’s like to walk through a rainbow, Beauty is for you. It’s a work that you can’t help but smile and marvel at – it’s no wonder why it remains one of Eliasson’s most beloved pieces after all these years.

One of Eliasson’s earliest works, a rainbow is conjured with a curtain of fine mist and a single spotlight – or maybe it’s created by you, the viewer, since the colours only appear when you stand at certain angles. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

3. Yellow corridor (1997)
As rows of monofrequency lights strip away most of the colour spectrum, you could almost physically feel the colour yellow wash over you.

Yellow corridor is a classic example of how Eliasson’s art takes on different contexts depending on the space that it occupies. At the Singapore Art Museum, for instance, it positions viewers to see the glass door on the opposite end as a light at the end of a tunnel. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

4. The last seven days of glacial ice (2024)
One of Eliasson’s many interests is what philosopher Timothy Morton called “hyperobjects” – things that are so big, like climate change, they’re difficult for humans to visualise. This never-before-shown work helps put the concept of rising sea levels into a more comprehensible perspective.

Modelled on the scan of a real chunk of glacier found on a beach in Iceland, The last seven days of glacial ice depicts the amount of water that gets released as it “melts” from a stainless steel block into glass spheres. Photo: Olafur Eliasson / Singapore Art Museum

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