17 may 2008.
in an effort to finally use my moma membership, i went today and saw take your time: olafur eliasson. it's there through june 30, and i highly recommend it. it's all about spatial interaction and limitation.
room for one colour bathes a constricted space in yellow light, so that everyone exists in a strange tinted greyscale. surrounding people start to look unreal, skin greying and edges sharpening. i reclined against a wall and watched as people got more and more unreal looking. as i left, my eyes turned the next room, which was totally white, into a vibrating purple. this was the first of a number of tricks with color that eliasson would play.
i only see things when they move reflected prisms onto the wall, creating shifting bands of color that were affected by movement in the room. it was a fun bit of color play, and a study in human behavior as people watched their shadows and behaved in ways that were alternately silly and bizarre. after chuckling, though, one becomes aware that they are totally cognizant of their own relation to their own shadow, and of their placement in the large room. consciousness of space, check.
negative quasi brick wall (above) was a murakami-esque collection of pieces of metal with mirrors on the reverse side, alternately giving way to the building's window. as one stares out at the skyline backdrop, the buildings outside start to warp and turn sideways as one's eyes start focusing on different surfaces.
360 room for all colors was a panoramic, almost closed-off room that, every 10 seconds or so, shifted colors. if one really focuses on the colors, they can almost feel their mood change from deep magenta, to a warm white, to soothing blue, to sunny orange. i think a really interesting view is from the opposite side of the entrance. after staring into a color, the outside room--which is a static white--transforms into different, corresponding colors. it's a fascinating optical play.
moss wall covers one wall of a large room with a bed of reindeer moss. as time passes, the moss transforms color and fills the room with a pungent smell. i'll have to go back in a month and see how it's transformed. i feel like it relates to the next room, which is filled with water vapor, and to the breath of the people who come in close and stare at it for hours.
your strange certainty kept (above) was pitch black with strobe lights. i know, sounds cheesy, but there was a rectangular island in the center of the room onto which an apparatus caused a line of rain to drop, the beads shimmering spectacularly with the flashing of lights. this was a prime example of eliasson's spatial examination. the room felt restricted, cut in half by the wall even though there was barely anything in the room. the picture above is not the same one i saw. the room was very sparse, the island smaller. one got the impression that they were looking in a mirror, even though the people on the other side were not them, and did not move as they moved.
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there were a handful of other exhibits, but i really recommend that any new yorker goes out and sees everyone for themselves. you'll continue to think about space and placement long after you leave.
[comment]
room for one colour bathes a constricted space in yellow light, so that everyone exists in a strange tinted greyscale. surrounding people start to look unreal, skin greying and edges sharpening. i reclined against a wall and watched as people got more and more unreal looking. as i left, my eyes turned the next room, which was totally white, into a vibrating purple. this was the first of a number of tricks with color that eliasson would play.
i only see things when they move reflected prisms onto the wall, creating shifting bands of color that were affected by movement in the room. it was a fun bit of color play, and a study in human behavior as people watched their shadows and behaved in ways that were alternately silly and bizarre. after chuckling, though, one becomes aware that they are totally cognizant of their own relation to their own shadow, and of their placement in the large room. consciousness of space, check.
negative quasi brick wall (above) was a murakami-esque collection of pieces of metal with mirrors on the reverse side, alternately giving way to the building's window. as one stares out at the skyline backdrop, the buildings outside start to warp and turn sideways as one's eyes start focusing on different surfaces.
360 room for all colors was a panoramic, almost closed-off room that, every 10 seconds or so, shifted colors. if one really focuses on the colors, they can almost feel their mood change from deep magenta, to a warm white, to soothing blue, to sunny orange. i think a really interesting view is from the opposite side of the entrance. after staring into a color, the outside room--which is a static white--transforms into different, corresponding colors. it's a fascinating optical play.
moss wall covers one wall of a large room with a bed of reindeer moss. as time passes, the moss transforms color and fills the room with a pungent smell. i'll have to go back in a month and see how it's transformed. i feel like it relates to the next room, which is filled with water vapor, and to the breath of the people who come in close and stare at it for hours.
your strange certainty kept (above) was pitch black with strobe lights. i know, sounds cheesy, but there was a rectangular island in the center of the room onto which an apparatus caused a line of rain to drop, the beads shimmering spectacularly with the flashing of lights. this was a prime example of eliasson's spatial examination. the room felt restricted, cut in half by the wall even though there was barely anything in the room. the picture above is not the same one i saw. the room was very sparse, the island smaller. one got the impression that they were looking in a mirror, even though the people on the other side were not them, and did not move as they moved.
-----
there were a handful of other exhibits, but i really recommend that any new yorker goes out and sees everyone for themselves. you'll continue to think about space and placement long after you leave.
[comment]