Variegated Environments
By Hilary Sample
Variegated Environments By Hilary SampleVariegated Environments By Hilary Sample Variegated Environments By Hilary Sample
Olafur Eliasson builds upon his project of "seeing one’s self seeing" by employing visual illusions and the phenomena of afterimages associated with viewing color, in the construction of Your Colour Memory. Carefully inserted within the architecture of a 19th century power station, an ecophysiological experiment unwinds through a sequence of three distinct spaces, juxtaposing natural light, artificial light and the absence of light for this "world shifting" experience. Flooded with sunlight, the gallery entrance area is compressed by the outer face of a large roofless oval-shaped form. Spiraling inward along the curving wall is an inner sanctum with an ambient surface of fluxing artificially colored light oscillating from pale to iridescent. A universe of infinite colors envelops the viewer, permeating the person’s every sense. When close to the surface, the viewer floats within the colored atmosphere. Interrupting the luminous surroundings, a black velvet curtain conceals a lightless space beyond. Inside the blackness of the chamber, a complementary afterimage appears on the viewer’s retina, reaffirming Eliasson’s project "where the piece can look back at us, create something in us". Memory transcends the event, raising the question, where does the project complete itself, inside or outside of the gallery? Only the viewer knows.
Olafur Eliasson: Your colour memory
September 1, 2004 — January 9, 2005
Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, Pennsylvania
Image gallery
Olafur Eliasson, Your colour memory (detail), 2004. Florescent tubes, control system, steel scaffolding, fabric, height: 10 ft. x width: 17 ft. x depth: 29 ft. Installation at Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, Pennsylvania
