Comment on Unilever: Olafur Eliasson by AllTheWorldsSquirrel
man i'd love a short detailed explanation of what i'm looking at here, it's awesome but i understand this is maybe a piece of art someone else did? or...hell...i'm stumped, i honestly don't understand what this is...
'photograph the fake *he* built'
Eerrr.... that should real 'the fake sun'
Eerrr.... that should real 'the fake sun'
Basically a guy from Iceland placed a sun like sphere in an art gallery in London. Thousands flocked everday to see it. This is a photograph the fake *he* built. The installation its self is not the art - but the effect the installation has on the immediate people around it is the art.
In a nut shell. A fake sun in a big old building in london.
In a nut shell. A fake sun in a big old building in london.
Huh? I'm lost....confused. Please tell me more about how you did this piece and about the fake sun or somethin!
Experiencing the work
This project is linked to Eliasson’s fascination with the way museums mediate the reception of art. In a museum, visitors are offered an array of information before they even see a work of art – from the marketing poster and press reviews to the interpretation text panel on the walls of the gallery. Eliasson recognises that this information influences the experience and understanding of the work. In this project he decided to direct these less overt aspects of making an exhibition, so that the experience of the work would be left as unscathed as possible for the viewer. He conducted a survey of staff at the museum, posing a series of questions ranging from the everyday to the abstract (‘How often do you discuss the weather?’, ‘Do you think the idea of the weather in our society is based on nature or culture?’). The statistical data gathered from this study was then used in the promotional campaign for the exhibition. Instead of photographs of the work, simple statements about the weather can be seen on advertisements in magazines, taxis or on the internet. Eliasson carefully chose information which would not prejudice or influence the visitor’s expectation of the work of art: ‘I think there is often a discrepancy between the experience of seeing and the knowledge or expectation of what we are seeing’.
The way in which Eliasson’s works harness the precarious and fleeting aspects of the natural world might initially evoke the spiritual and emotional attachment to nature found in the Romantic tradition. Yet the transcendent experience at the core of this tradition is disrupted in Eliasson’s work by exposing the structure and apparatus delivering the installation: ‘The benefit in disclosing the means with which I am working is that it enables the viewer to understand the experience itself as a construction and so, to a higher extent, allow them to question and evaluate the impact this experience has on them.’ For this reason, as well as Eliasson’s subversive engagement with the construct of the museum, in The Weather Project there is the opportunity to walk behind ‘sun’ to see the sub-structure and electrical wiring, as well as the machines distributing the fine mist.
Eliasson’s impressive installation draws attention to the fundamental act of perceiving the world around us. But, like the weather, our perceptions are in a continual state of flux. The dynamic variations in the composition of the ephemeral elements of The Weather Project parallel the unpredictability of the weather outside, which despite the efforts and sabotage of humankind still remains beyond our control.
[link]
This project is linked to Eliasson’s fascination with the way museums mediate the reception of art. In a museum, visitors are offered an array of information before they even see a work of art – from the marketing poster and press reviews to the interpretation text panel on the walls of the gallery. Eliasson recognises that this information influences the experience and understanding of the work. In this project he decided to direct these less overt aspects of making an exhibition, so that the experience of the work would be left as unscathed as possible for the viewer. He conducted a survey of staff at the museum, posing a series of questions ranging from the everyday to the abstract (‘How often do you discuss the weather?’, ‘Do you think the idea of the weather in our society is based on nature or culture?’). The statistical data gathered from this study was then used in the promotional campaign for the exhibition. Instead of photographs of the work, simple statements about the weather can be seen on advertisements in magazines, taxis or on the internet. Eliasson carefully chose information which would not prejudice or influence the visitor’s expectation of the work of art: ‘I think there is often a discrepancy between the experience of seeing and the knowledge or expectation of what we are seeing’.
The way in which Eliasson’s works harness the precarious and fleeting aspects of the natural world might initially evoke the spiritual and emotional attachment to nature found in the Romantic tradition. Yet the transcendent experience at the core of this tradition is disrupted in Eliasson’s work by exposing the structure and apparatus delivering the installation: ‘The benefit in disclosing the means with which I am working is that it enables the viewer to understand the experience itself as a construction and so, to a higher extent, allow them to question and evaluate the impact this experience has on them.’ For this reason, as well as Eliasson’s subversive engagement with the construct of the museum, in The Weather Project there is the opportunity to walk behind ‘sun’ to see the sub-structure and electrical wiring, as well as the machines distributing the fine mist.
Eliasson’s impressive installation draws attention to the fundamental act of perceiving the world around us. But, like the weather, our perceptions are in a continual state of flux. The dynamic variations in the composition of the ephemeral elements of The Weather Project parallel the unpredictability of the weather outside, which despite the efforts and sabotage of humankind still remains beyond our control.
[link]