Harnessing elemental materials like water, light and fog, UBS Art Collection artist Olafur Eliasson’s immersive site-specific installations invite us to look at the world around us anew. His artworks arise from a longstanding engagement with the environment and sustainability and offer opportunities to enter into a deeper awareness of our sensory experiences.
The Icelandic-Danish artist gave an insight into his thought process. The talk was part of Artist Talks, a series exploring the life and work of some of the most influential contemporary artists working today, presented by UBS and the Fondation Beyeler. In conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, Eliasson found himself returning often to the theme of water as he discussed the origins of projects such as his ‘Green River’ series.
Looking back on enacting the work in Stockholm in 2000, Eliasson described how a river “represents a kind of a dynamic force” that is often ignored or subjugated by modern urban planning. By using the organic, non-toxic substance uranine to dye the river at the heart of the city green, he wanted to “see if I could make it hyper-real… by making it unreal somehow,” thus drawing viewers into a different relationship with their everyday environment. He recounted the impact on city inhabitants as the river became present once again: “Suddenly you can see the water. It was not a postcard anymore; it was not a representation of an idealised city 100 years ago – it was actually a real space.”
In 2021 Eliasson took these ideas further with ‘Life,’ an exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler. By carefully removing the façade on one side, Eliasson opened the exhibition to invite humans and non-humans – the elements and the wildlife – into the space. The gallery rooms were filled with water – which seemingly connected the outdoor pond into the inner spaces. “Suddenly the whole museum became almost like a sculpture,” Eliasson recalled.
For Eliasson, this model of a more open, inclusive relationship between institutions, audiences, and the natural world could point to a way forward for the museum sector in the modern age. Posing questions like “How do we become more hospitable, better hosts?” Eliasson shared his own reflections on the need to break down the imposing barriers of the traditional museum, before concluding: “This is such an interesting time… for museums who dare to be progressive enough.”
