The light setup. Olafur Eliasson
Lund Konsthall 10 September 2005 - 8 January 2006
Malmö Konsthall 10 September 2005 - 22 January 2006

 

The light setup, the autumn show at Lund Konsthall, will present a wide spectrum of works by Olafur Eliasson from the years 1997-2005. Some 40 pieces - light installations, objects, models and photographs - interact to create a strikingly intense atmosphere.

Throughout his artistic practice, Olafur Eliasson has worked with natural phenomena like light, water and temperature. By inserting these into artificial surroundings Eliasson challenges us to sharpen our senses and to reflect on our relationship with and our understanding of the physical environment that we occupy in our everyday lives.

At Lund Konsthall various experiments employing ingenious technical solutions will turn the exhibition space into something reminiscent of a laboratory or artist's studio where visitors can not only study the techniques involved but even experiment themselves. Presenting the constructions as an important aspect of the works is a way of deliberately demystifying the phenomena that the visitor encounters and helps to break down their seemingly sensational aspects. Eliasson thus invites visitors to be aware of their own vision and to take an active part in creating and experiencing the works. We become partners in creating the images that are generated.

Olafur Eliasson's artistic practice is characterized by the serious study that underlies it. In this regard his approach is similar to other types of research illustrated in various ways through the series of photographs, models and light experiments that will be on display at Lund Konsthall. In the manner of a visual inventory the series of photographs document phenomena like melting ice flows, deep pools and horizons. They are grouped according to subject types and presented in accordance with a strict grid pattern. However, in a work like Room for one colour the careful examination of the wavelengths of light is given a playful framework which results in all the colours in the room being subordinated to the yellow nuance and being seen as a scale consisting of shades of black and white. This playful inventiveness is highly characteristic of Eliasson's art.

The two exhibitions featuring Olafur Eliasson to be shown this autumn are being jointly organized by Lund Konsthall and Malmö Konsthall. They can be seen as a single entity offering a unique opportunity to engage with Olafur Eliasson's wide-ranging oeuvre. The Lund exhibition illustrates the breadth of Eliasson's artistic investigations, while at Malmö Konsthall the experiment has been enlarged into a giant format which shifts the focus from the experimental aspect to how we experience the results of the experiment. Examination of the light is a central aspect of the new work that fills Malmö Konsthall. The two exhibitions complement and enrich each other and point to the complexity underlying all of Olafur Eliasson's work; the interplay between experiment, experience, a work of art and "reality".

Olafur Eliasson was born in 1967. He is currently based both in Berlin and Copenhagen. Among his recent exhibitions and projects we may mention: Minding the world at the Aros Kunstmuseum in Århus, 2004, Your lighthouse at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg 2004, The weather project at Tate Modern in London 2003, The blind pavilion, the Danish pavilion at the Venice Biennial 2003, as well as public commissions in Denmark and Sweden including a candelabra for Copenhagen's new opera house 2004 and Movement meter for Lernacken by the new bridge in Malmö 2000.

Photos in slideshow by Terje Östling.
This exhibition is sponsored by: