Olafur Eliasson

My son Eric and I were in Chicago over the weekend for a family wedding. We took advantage of being there to do a few touristy things. Among those, we took an architectural boat tour. We floated on the river between these incredibly tall and towering buildings. The guide was quite interesting and very informative. I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of very modern structures and materials and early 1900's buildings. What tickles me too is that apparently one of the "hottest" current architects in Chicago at the moment is a woman!

We also went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Installations by Olafur Eliasson were one of the special exhibits. It was just fabulous! Shapes, very complex ones, combined with mirrors, colors and light, and we found ourselves in the middle of kaleidoscope-like structures, one spherical, one like a passageway. Some of the shape models were also on display, complicated "weavings" of copper wires made the most interesting shapes. For my currently "box"-oriented mind, this was really fascinating. Both Eric and I loved the way we were actually immersed in the artwork, walking in a bright orange-lit hallway that made us look gray, in a black room with an illuminated spray of water creating a curtain from the ceiling to a circular "room", with a wall which colors were constantly changing within the color spectrum. These are just a few highlights of the exhibits. We both enjoyed how colors, shapes and lights changed our perception of space.

I could not find any images of Oliason's work on line but you can see a couple of pieces on the Museum website:
http://www.mcachicago.org/, then go to current exhibits, Olafur Eliasson.