Throwback: Olafur Eliasson at Tate Modern

A few weeks ago i visited the Olafur Eliasson exhibition at Tate Modern. I've been wanting to this for a while and finally made some time to take the trip down south to see it before it ends.


The exhibition focuses on exploring your senses and natural experiences through light, sound, geometry, motion and colour. There is also a strong link to ecological and environmental issues that Eliasson highlights throughout the journey through the exhibition.


There were several highlights through the show;

Firstly, 'Beauty', a dark room filled with gentle mist and light beams, causing rainbows to dance across the room. As you move past the rain, the colours change and the refraction of light changes constantly. I found this piece very profound and enjoyed watching the dance of colour amongst the constant movement of water.

I also enjoyed 'Your Blind Passenger'. This was a 20 metre corridor filled with fog with near to zero-visibility. As you walk through, the colour appears to change and it gives an impression of changing temperature. I have been through a number of art installations that have featured fog over the years and always found them quite disconcerting. However, i found this more enjoyable for some reason...maybe it was the changing colours, or the gentle conversation around me (not that you could see who was speaking!) but it felt more comforting than scary.

Lastly, my highlight of the show, and the most recognisable piece of the exhibition, Your Uncertain Shadow. 5 coloured lights project onto the opposite wall and visitors are encouraged to create moving shapes across the room. This causes a series of shadows to move across the space. I was lucky to see this exhibition in the morning so there wasn't too many people, but this was a big attraction for visitors and the room started to get busy. This prevented the shadows from working as well but it was nice to play about with the light.

This exhibition was wonderful to see and well worth the money. Sadly, the exhibition has now finished but hopefully some of these pieces from the show will be exhibited again.