In Real Life
Olafur Eliasson
Tate Modern
11 JULY 2019 – 5 JANUARY 2020
£18, £17 concessions, £5 Tate Collective members
Olafur Elisasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist who focuses his work predominantly around immersive installations. With there being so much contemporary art around these days, it has become increasingly important for viewers to feel connected to the art, and what better way to do this than to physically put the viewer into the work itself: and for it to grow and mould with each individual. Eliasson’s materials range from moss, water and fog, and are complemented with various reflective materials and lighting. The message is completely subjective, however, themes of nature and our human impact on the planet are fairly obvious and come at a time when the climate and world have never been a more relevant discussion point.
I have become increasingly sceptical about contemporary art, feeling as though it is becoming more ridiculous as time goes on. I always thought I was a fan, but there have been just a few too many exhibitions that I’ve attended in recent years whose work has been so expansive it has admittedly put me off a little. Eliasson’s exhibition was at risk of going that way too when I first arrived. It opens with a large glass display unit, full of numerous sculptures made from different materials. The spherical shapes many of the sculptures exhibit make the work appear as though it were a recreation of the solar system in a way that would have done really well at a science fair but wasn’t a blow-your-brains opening artwork at a major exhibition.
Moving through I started to become a little pessimistic. I saw a wall made of moss, a window with water coming down it (although it was raining outside, so I didn’t realise that this ‘rain window’ was actually a piece of art), and a couple of long yellow water containers, which occasionally formed a wave that travelled from one end to another. There is no fixed route to the exhibition, Eliasson hopes that as you encounter each piece you become aware of your senses and add meaning to the works based upon your own experiences and particular memories. The brief, however, becomes a little far-fetched when it goes on to talk of the temporary communities we form and new sense of responsibility we have through our journey.
Despite a questionable beginning, the exhibition got a whole lot better as it went on. We travelled through a rain room, which made beautiful coloured patterns, and a water fountain that flashed beams of light intermittently, showing you a different structure and shape each time. Moving through the exhibition we were met with a metal mirror tunnel, which jutted out in menacing directions and made you feel as though you had entered some form of enemy spacecraft. Admittedly, I have seen a lot of these ‘kaleidoscope’ tunnels pop up in 2019, but this one was particularly cool.
Later on, we danced in a colourful light room which played with numbers and perspective and made our way slowly through a fog corridor where you could literally only see for about a metre in front of you. This was by far the coolest part of the exhibition, and was bathed in an orange light, which made you feel as though you had stepped out into a radioactive warzone, where life seldom remained, and made skin looked distorted, wrinkled, dead even. From the start of Eliasson’s exhibition, themes surrounding the universe and our impact upon it were apparent. The start of the exhibition - with the planet-like spheres, to the exhibitions close - which contained a lot of pictures of glaciers and the effect of global warming on our oceans.
Whilst Eliasson’s exhibition had to be one of the most contemporary shows I’ve ever seen, it ended up being a truly enjoyable one. Yes, the beginning had me questioning why I had come to yet another show of white boxes abstract nonsense, but it only got better from there. I didn’t really feel the sense of deep connection or ‘responsibility’ that Eliasson was aiming for, but on the whole, there was plenty to get involved in and enjoy. Was it the best thing I’d ever seen? No. However, I can truly say that parts of it were like nothing I have ever seen before.
OVERALL RATING: ****
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/olafur-eliasson
