y=2.35 sin ((Π/10.6 )x), y=2.35 sin ((Π/24)x) by Olafur Eliasson
2000
Olafur EliassonFacts
- Material
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Neon installation
- Size
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65 metres
- Description
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As we ascend and descend in the glass lift, we can look out into the central lift shaft at the two gorgeously sinuous coloured neon tubes – one yellow, one white – that snake their way up the wall from floor to ceiling. It is a simple, yet sensory artwork.
- Location
- Zurich, Altbau
© 2024 ProLitteris Zurich
Image copyright: Stefan Altenburger
Reality is relative; it is relative to your engagement with your surroundings. The frequency of the sine wave in the elevator turns you into a resonator. In fact, space moves through you and fuels your existence.
The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson is an engineer of the minimalist spectacle. He is well known for his immersive installations and sculptures that use the ethereal power of air, water and light to create works that play with our emotions and perceptions of self and space. In fact, Eliasson often uses the phrase "sensing yourself sensing" and, here, we certainly can get a sense of our bodies travelling through space.
Eliasson's works are often made after detailed research, reflecting his interest in how our bodies perceive colour and light. It is no surprise then that Eliasson has been described as having the "mental discipline of a scientist and the emotional responsibility of a poet". And with Untitled, Eliasson brings the Romantic notion of looking out on the natural light in a landscape into the man-made domain of the daily office.
