Olafur Eliasson's exhibition at Tate Modern was an experience that makes you experience the world through many of your senses - your eyesight, your touch, and your smell. “We have eyes in our fingers, too. I want people to touch. To touch is about simply acknowledging the physical. We see things, yes – but to feel and act and have a relationship with the world does require an element of embodiment,” sais Olafur Eliasson to Simon Ingram from National Geographic UK (Ingram, 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk).
It makes you question your perception of space. What is usually under your feet is now in front of you (the moss), what is usually in front of you is now above your head (the mirror).
Photo 1&2 © Iulia Tvigun Photo 3 © National Geographic UK
The three most impressive exhibits/rooms in the entire exhibition for me were the tunnel, the water fountain, and the rain. I do not know if the author named them precisely this way, but it is how I remember them. I called them after the objects that they resemble the most to me. It is my brain trying to make sense of things, labelling them according to what is familiar to me, although these associations may be very different from the author's.
Photo 1 © Iulia Tsvigun Photo 2 © Anders Sune Berg Photo 3 © Thilo Frank
The water fountain impressed me not only with the beauty and diversity of the shapes that it revealed with every flash of light but also with the way I felt in those moments. While it was a bit painful because of the contrast between the darkness and the light, and the pressure it put onto my eyesight, I felt excited every time. It felt like Christmas! I anticipated every new shape it threw.
The rain and rainbow were also mesmerising and impressive, but in a different, more subtle way. The almost non-existent curtain of tiny water drops made you look very carefully into the darkness. You didn't know what you were looking at and for, until the rainbow revealed itself. And until it did, a room that was, at first, as noisy as any gallery or museum naturally is, gradually becomes silent as if the rainbow is not only a visual object but also a musical occurrence.
Video © Iulia Tvigun
Lastly, the tunnel was the most impressive of all. It was the only exhibit that I wanted to experience but did not. As I entered the room, I quickly realized that it disorientated me. It erased the coordinates of the world I knew, and it took away all the power I had over the physical world around me. I did not know how to navigate it. I grabbed the arm of a person standing nearby; there I was vulnerable around strangers. I felt how little air was in the room.
The colors, smells, and textures that emerged as I advanced through the tunnel overwhelmed me. I did not withstand the impact it made on me and my senses, and I had to leave. But not without something to think about...
Links:
Ingram, Simon. (2019) National Geographic [online]. United Kingdom. Available at https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation201907why-artist-bringing-outdoors-indoors-and-unreality-real-life. (Accessed 30/09/2019)
Olafur Eliasson returns to Tate Modern with this unmissable exhibition. Available at https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/olafur-eliasson (Accessed 11/09/2019).
Olafur Eliasson to bring his tunnel of fog work to Tate Modern. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jan/31/olafur-eliasson-your-blind-passenger-tunnel-fog-tate-modern-installation (Accessed 25/10/2019)
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