Exhibition: Olafur Eliasson @ Tate Modern

In Real Life | 2019

---

Artificial Sun (2003)

My first experience of Olafur Eliasson was in 2003 seeing the Sun in the Turbine Hall and I was speechless. Though nine years old, I remember being in a daze, lying in the hall next to my mum with a sea of others conducting a very strange version of people watching. I was hypnotised. I couldn't believe it wasn't real (if I had walked to the far end of the hall, I could have seen how it was constructed but alas).

Since then I have followed Eliasson's work religiously and has become a pivotal figure in shaping how art should be experienced. You can imagine how thrilled I was to see that an extensive retrospective was in London, in the same space where it started it all.

For me, the best exhibits were the simplest. Beauty, a title that is never more true of a work of art as this one, holds your attention through the simplest mechanisms: water and light. Eliasson allowing the beauty of nature, that is often fleeting, take centre stage.

Beauty (1993)

The second being Din blinde passager. An even simpler contraption of smoke, an enclosed corridor and light. Walking through a spectrum of rich egg yolk yellow and blinding white (only two colours, yet my friends and I swore we saw many more). It was exhilarating going through the passage and losing those you came with, an experience often associated with concern but became a welcome game of Guess Who / Bumper Cars.

Din Blinde Passagar (2010)

Left: Model Room (2019) | Right: In Real Life (2019)

Aside from the many immersive exhibits there was a Model Room, that contained "around 450 models, prototypes and geometric studies of various sizes". As with any good artist, showing how you think and the madness that is the creative process enables audiences to engage with you on a personal level. Doing my MA while examining this display felt a little too real! But what I loved is how you can follow the models in the library to the larger artworks you see in the show.

The Expanded Studio

There are references to the state of the environment scattered throughout the exhibition, culminating in a large space, The Expanded Studio. A room that provides a glimpse into the breadth of activism Eliasson and the studio undertake, with projects such as Little Sun and Ice Watch as notable examples.

The topics of environment, impact and asylum are incredibly large and multifaceted. It's a difficult task to be condensed at the end of an already stimulating show, which can feel overwhelming. This is the only criticism I have of the show. The ambition to integrate the breadth of Eliasson's work and his activism is commendable, but the exhibition as a whole doesn't do the work "outside of art" justice. To me, it makes it seem like this glimpse into this activism is more of a side hustle rather than a significant portion of their focus.

After spending an entire afternoon at the show trying to absorb as much as humanely possible, I can safely say it simultaneously amazed, engaged and provoked me, both physically and emotionally. Eliasson's power lies in bringing awareness of ourselves and each other through individual works of art that make us acutely aware of our environment and senses, in ways that are so playful and innately human.

My latest experience with Eliasson exceeded my nine year old self's expectations. I was as mesmerised by the show as I was before, undoubtedly more so for years to come.