Olafur Eliasson
28 Apr - 27 May 2006
OLAFUR ELIASSON
Your engagement sequence
April 28-May 27, 2006
Opening Reception, April 28, 6-8pm
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is very pleased to present 'Your engagement sequence', Olafur Eliasson’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery.
Through his installation-based work, sculpture and photography, Olafur Eliasson suggests that perception must be studied and understood within the context of one’s environment and as a construction of culture. The artist has created numerous works, or situations, that present opportunities for visitors to engage with basic, familiar elements such as water, light, wind, temperature or vegetation and to observe them in an unfamiliar context. Often these situations provoke experiences and interactions to which the visitors themselves contribute, as much any element or environment provided by the artist. Indeed, it is the realignment and reconfiguration of the traditional subject / object relationship within the context of contemporary art that serves as the core of Eliasson’s artmaking practice. Eliasson is also interested in the effect of time upon the understanding of space, thus making art that can be considered ‘temporal’. Indeed it is widely understood that time, is perhaps the fourth dimension and we cannot understand the universe without acknowledging that space (and our surroundings in general) changes over time. Further, if we agree that every individual (indeed every fragment of energy or mass) has an effect upon every other fragment of energy and mass in the universe, then Eliasson suggests that this ‘effect’, must also be taken into consideration as we attempt to understand the world. Eliasson has even suggested a new metric, or term, for this ‘effect’: Your engagement sequence, or YES, for short. In the artist’s words:
'...YES, or the fifth dimension, creates a perspective that is personal; it functions to individualize the other dimensions of space. I am interested in the potential inherent in giving the individual subject this dimensionality as a sort of tool that relativizes the other existent, presumed static dimensions upon which our conception of space is based.... By including YES as a central element of perception, the governing dogma of timelessness and static objecthood may be renegotiated, thus making your responsibility for an active engagement in the concrete situation apparent... In other words, engagement has consequences and these entail some feeling of responsibility.'
‘Your negotiable panorama’, installed in the main space of the ground floor exhibition galleries, is nothing if not a model of the individual’s effect upon and responsibility for her surroundings. First, the artist constructs a nearly 360 degree, or spiral, room for the visitor to enter, immediately negating a certain comfort zone of experience, particularly at a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea, which has become synonymous with the white cube. A light source, lens, and large table supporting a basin of water are configured at the center of this circular space. Quite simply, a wavelike pattern of projected light is generated by the individual visitor’s movements within the space and, more specifically, by her subtle gestures and movements upon the table basin. Spectacular in terms of visual stimulation, the model experiments with the relationship between cause and effect, individual experience and the construction of perception.
Upstairs, in the large gallery space on the second floor, Eliasson has installed a work entitled 'The inverted mirror sphere.' As illustrated in the artist’s 2003 exhibition at the gallery, titled Modelroom, Eliasson is fascinated with the influence of architecture upon experience in general, and particularly celebrates architecture that allows the individual to renegotiate her experience within its confines. In this sense, the artist takes much inspiration from Buckminster Fuller as perhaps the greatest anti-Modernist of architectural theory. Eliasson has referenced Fuller’s geodesic domes in numerous works and this process has led to a series of projects involving mathematical patterns and symmetries. 'Inverted mirror sphere' represents the height of Eliasson’s study in spatial construction, presenting a sphere composed of a torqued spiral of steel tubes and geometric patterns of steel and mirror. Set within the sphere, a source of bright light is set up. With the inclusion of the light source, another 360 degree projection is initiated, revealing the negative spaces on the sphere’s surface while simultaneously projecting the sphere’s pattern onto the surrounding gallery floor walls.
In the small gallery of the second floor, Eliasson has designed another room installation that takes the image of a neon compass as a point of departure. An arrow flashing briefly in each position on the compass, suggests that one’s orientation, or the sense of one’s place in the landscape, is similarly an issue of construction and one that requires study and appreciation in order to attain greater consciousness. In this work, we are left to ponder the direction where the arrow points and the fact that there is no single answer, or truth, to the arrow’s orientation.
Olafur Eliasson is among the most influential and widely acclaimed artists of his generation. Important early exhibitions include Manifesta 1, Rotterdam (1996); Truce: SITE Santa Fe (1997); Johannesburg Biennial (1998); Sao Paolo Biennial (1998); The Carnegie International 99/00; and each of the past four Venice Biennales (represented Denmark in their national pavilion in 2003) among numerous others. Eliasson has had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago (1999); the ICA Boston (2001); Turbine Hall, Tate Modern (2003); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2003); Kunsthalle Zug (2004); the Aspen Art Museum (2004); Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (2005); Malmц Konsthall (2005) and many more. Eliasson will have his first major survey exhibition in 2007 that will open at San Francisco, MoMA and travel.
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is very pleased to announce that Olafur Eliasson’s Your Engagement Sequence will serve as the inaugural show of the gallery newly expanded exhibition space on the ground floor of our current premises.
Upcoming exhibitions:
Thomas Scheibitz, June 1 to July 6, 2006, ground floor
Dirk Stewen, June 1 to July 6, 2006, second floor
© Olafur Eliasson
Extralarge eyekea lamp
2006
Stainless steel, color effect filter glass, halogen bulb, cable
55 inches diameter
140 cm diameter
Your engagement sequence
April 28-May 27, 2006
Opening Reception, April 28, 6-8pm
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is very pleased to present 'Your engagement sequence', Olafur Eliasson’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery.
Through his installation-based work, sculpture and photography, Olafur Eliasson suggests that perception must be studied and understood within the context of one’s environment and as a construction of culture. The artist has created numerous works, or situations, that present opportunities for visitors to engage with basic, familiar elements such as water, light, wind, temperature or vegetation and to observe them in an unfamiliar context. Often these situations provoke experiences and interactions to which the visitors themselves contribute, as much any element or environment provided by the artist. Indeed, it is the realignment and reconfiguration of the traditional subject / object relationship within the context of contemporary art that serves as the core of Eliasson’s artmaking practice. Eliasson is also interested in the effect of time upon the understanding of space, thus making art that can be considered ‘temporal’. Indeed it is widely understood that time, is perhaps the fourth dimension and we cannot understand the universe without acknowledging that space (and our surroundings in general) changes over time. Further, if we agree that every individual (indeed every fragment of energy or mass) has an effect upon every other fragment of energy and mass in the universe, then Eliasson suggests that this ‘effect’, must also be taken into consideration as we attempt to understand the world. Eliasson has even suggested a new metric, or term, for this ‘effect’: Your engagement sequence, or YES, for short. In the artist’s words:
'...YES, or the fifth dimension, creates a perspective that is personal; it functions to individualize the other dimensions of space. I am interested in the potential inherent in giving the individual subject this dimensionality as a sort of tool that relativizes the other existent, presumed static dimensions upon which our conception of space is based.... By including YES as a central element of perception, the governing dogma of timelessness and static objecthood may be renegotiated, thus making your responsibility for an active engagement in the concrete situation apparent... In other words, engagement has consequences and these entail some feeling of responsibility.'
‘Your negotiable panorama’, installed in the main space of the ground floor exhibition galleries, is nothing if not a model of the individual’s effect upon and responsibility for her surroundings. First, the artist constructs a nearly 360 degree, or spiral, room for the visitor to enter, immediately negating a certain comfort zone of experience, particularly at a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea, which has become synonymous with the white cube. A light source, lens, and large table supporting a basin of water are configured at the center of this circular space. Quite simply, a wavelike pattern of projected light is generated by the individual visitor’s movements within the space and, more specifically, by her subtle gestures and movements upon the table basin. Spectacular in terms of visual stimulation, the model experiments with the relationship between cause and effect, individual experience and the construction of perception.
Upstairs, in the large gallery space on the second floor, Eliasson has installed a work entitled 'The inverted mirror sphere.' As illustrated in the artist’s 2003 exhibition at the gallery, titled Modelroom, Eliasson is fascinated with the influence of architecture upon experience in general, and particularly celebrates architecture that allows the individual to renegotiate her experience within its confines. In this sense, the artist takes much inspiration from Buckminster Fuller as perhaps the greatest anti-Modernist of architectural theory. Eliasson has referenced Fuller’s geodesic domes in numerous works and this process has led to a series of projects involving mathematical patterns and symmetries. 'Inverted mirror sphere' represents the height of Eliasson’s study in spatial construction, presenting a sphere composed of a torqued spiral of steel tubes and geometric patterns of steel and mirror. Set within the sphere, a source of bright light is set up. With the inclusion of the light source, another 360 degree projection is initiated, revealing the negative spaces on the sphere’s surface while simultaneously projecting the sphere’s pattern onto the surrounding gallery floor walls.
In the small gallery of the second floor, Eliasson has designed another room installation that takes the image of a neon compass as a point of departure. An arrow flashing briefly in each position on the compass, suggests that one’s orientation, or the sense of one’s place in the landscape, is similarly an issue of construction and one that requires study and appreciation in order to attain greater consciousness. In this work, we are left to ponder the direction where the arrow points and the fact that there is no single answer, or truth, to the arrow’s orientation.
Olafur Eliasson is among the most influential and widely acclaimed artists of his generation. Important early exhibitions include Manifesta 1, Rotterdam (1996); Truce: SITE Santa Fe (1997); Johannesburg Biennial (1998); Sao Paolo Biennial (1998); The Carnegie International 99/00; and each of the past four Venice Biennales (represented Denmark in their national pavilion in 2003) among numerous others. Eliasson has had solo exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago (1999); the ICA Boston (2001); Turbine Hall, Tate Modern (2003); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2003); Kunsthalle Zug (2004); the Aspen Art Museum (2004); Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (2005); Malmц Konsthall (2005) and many more. Eliasson will have his first major survey exhibition in 2007 that will open at San Francisco, MoMA and travel.
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery is very pleased to announce that Olafur Eliasson’s Your Engagement Sequence will serve as the inaugural show of the gallery newly expanded exhibition space on the ground floor of our current premises.
Upcoming exhibitions:
Thomas Scheibitz, June 1 to July 6, 2006, ground floor
Dirk Stewen, June 1 to July 6, 2006, second floor
© Olafur Eliasson
Extralarge eyekea lamp
2006
Stainless steel, color effect filter glass, halogen bulb, cable
55 inches diameter
140 cm diameter