From the colors and qualities of light we cannot accurately perceive sound waves that are inaudible to our ears, an important part of the phenomena in space is not easy to access. Moving between aesthetics and physics and working at the intersection of art and science, the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is known for exploring ephemeral phenomena in his work with dynamic elements such as light, color and frequency, which shape our experience of reality even though it is complex. it often exceeds the limits of our senses.
In his recently opened exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, “Your collection of mental light,” Eliasson delves even deeper into the edges of perception, playing with light waves and exploring sounds and vibrations—often discounted in art—as an integral part of the human being. information and the formation of the universe. The viewer enjoyed a special viewing of the exhibition with the artist, who shared details on the processes and themes of his new works that explore, challenge and disrupt to raise awareness of how we walk in this world.
The central installation of this exhibition is an immersive spatial soundscape, a captivating synthetic experience that harmoniously integrates visual and sensory elements. This work is the result of a complex orchestra that translates light into sound through shared waves that coincide with the universe. In this way, the circles of light move, expand and converge in the dark room, tracking the wavelength of the sound itself.
“This is a piece of music made from light to sound, not from sound to light,” Olafur explained to us. To achieve this effect, he started by designing and adjusting the direct light structure with mirrors, refining the colors and gradients until he created the desired “painting” for this artificial environment, and then finishing it with sound. Once again, Eliasson demonstrates his ability to use waves—whether light or sound—as the primary medium of his composition.
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Although light and sound operate in different electromagnetic and acoustic spectra, the invisible properties of wave frequency and length determine whether we hear a certain sound or see a certain color. Sound is a mechanical wave traveling through a medium (such as air, water, or solids), with a frequency that determines whether it will produce a low-pitched (eg, bass) or high-pitched (eg, treble) sound. Light, however, is the frequency or wavelength of the electromagnetic wave that determines color, as Eliasson explains during our walk. He also explained that every place “space and material things have their own movement, which controls the relationship with space.” This synesthetic exploration creates a meditative, harmonious sequence that transports visitors to another place, allowing them to feel the harmony hidden within the universe. “In the end it is agreed; it has this wonderful sense of harmony, like inhaling and exhaling.”
This installation, which involves both the psyche and the senses through waves, lends itself to the theme of the exhibition, which focuses on the concept of “psychoacoustics.” This theme speaks to Eliasson's interest in the inherent relevance of perception and how our senses and their mental processing shape our experience and understanding of the world—despite the inherent limitations that keep many things beyond our full understanding.
At the entrance to the gallery, one of his framed portraits, Fierce Tenderness Sphereit expands into space, decaying the light into its spectrum across countless quadrangles. With each viewer's movement, the sculpture changes, creating an interplay of light, color and shape that provides a multi-layered experience, revealing new ideas and meanings within the same scene.
Above, Olafur continues to explore the phenomena of colors and how they are visible and accessible to us, depending on the wavelength of light that the objects reflect, transmit, or emit. As in many works of art, and like sound, people can only see a small band of the electric spectrum because of the receptors (cones) of our eyes that respond to certain wavelengths only, which allows us to see only certain colors. However, this does not mean that this is the only way that vision can work in the universe—especially when viewed from a different perspective or using advanced tools.
The concept of color as expression, emergence or transmission is the basis of the processes from which the works of the artist originate. “Color doesn't exist by itself, only when you look at it,” he said. “The unique fact that color is only visible when light comes from a certain point on our retinas shows us that color analysis is, in fact, about the ability to analyze itself.”
In the first gallery, the artist presents a new body of work: an active watercolor piece in which shades of green and yellow expand in a circle with water, as if something collided in the nucleus and spread outward. Olafur explains that this piece is the result of a slightly more precise process: allowing an ice cube, along with bleach, to melt into a watercolor and ink surface. Over time, the melting snow activates a change in color pigments, which spread throughout the fabric in different stages, turning black into green and, finally, yellow. Here, blackness—the absence of light and wavelength—is symbolically disrupted by the harsh chemical reaction of bleach, allowing color to reappear as the ice melts and changes its composition.
In a nearby dark room, the artist has installed a band of light that contains all the colors in the visible spectrum, which appear as reflections—like sunlight hitting glass or rainbows created by raindrops. By using bright white light in a colored arc, you create a flat light that resembles a horizon or a boreal line that glows in the dark. “It's in the dark that you understand the need for some light,” Olafur remarked with confusion. By performing this reflection of light, the artist actually “paints” within the space with a single, precise stroke that captures all the colors contained in any ray of natural light, achieving with scientific precision the “illusory light” that has been pursued by artists throughout the history of art. .
In Tanya Bonakdar's sky-lighting main gallery, the artist has hung large watercolor works that evoke the fleeting light of a rainbow on paper. Here, the connection between light, color and paint becomes even more complex: the ethereal water colors suggest hues in the visible light spectrum, similar to sunlight reflecting off a white surface. Filled with a full range of colors, these works attempt to capture something that our senses often struggle to fully perceive. As the artist explains, here he paints “the impossibility of what we see, to paint something that cannot be seen, or to say something that we almost cannot see.”
Jobs start with gray paint underneath; when many colors are crowded together, they merge and return to gray. These watercolors are painted on a wet surface, layered in soft, repetitive layers in an almost traditional way, allowing colors to emerge before returning to gray. “It's like a white sheet of paper that bounces in the middle of the color,” said Olafur. The result is works with a special light, as if the colors absorbed the spectrum of light that bathed them and now transmits it to the viewer's eye. This shimmering, diaphanous effect surrounds the viewer, filling the room with color—like sunlight washing the paper and translating wavelengths into colors and tones that stretch across space.
By challenging and testing viewers' perceptions of color and light, and this time including sound, Eliasson has designed a deep exploration that allows us to understand how the perception of these elements shapes our spaces. Highlighting the complex relationship between the senses and the mind, Olafur reveals how we navigate ourselves, consciously or otherwise, within the interplay of frequencies and waves that surround us silently and imperceptibly. This work connects all these experiences with the infinite cycle of energy and particles governed by the impenetrable laws of the universe. Acknowledging the limitations of sensory perception, Eliasson offers a glimpse into a vast realm beyond our consciousness, emphasizing that our understanding of the world is inherently relational.
Olafur Eliasson's Midnight Moment
In addition to the exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar, Olafur Eliasson will present a work in New York City's Times Square in mid-November as part of the Midnight Moment program. Every night from 11:57 pm to midnight, his piece Lifeworld will transform sequential photo boards into a stunning array of floating light forms that mimic the vibrant energy of the cityscape. In this work, Eliasson seeks to capture and extract the essence of an iconic place by filming its screens from various perspectives, creating a targeted blur that suspends these light revivals in time and space. Removed from their conventional meanings and messages, these revivals take on a pure spirit, with abstract shimmering colors and dancing colors that invite viewers to slow down and creatively rethink the city's landscape.
“It's fun, but the environment also determines what I do – to drive me to spend or eat,” the artist said in a statement. “Lifeworld it shows the near future again, and its dim qualities may raise questions. When suddenly faced with the reality of choice, you might ask what cities, lives and places do we want to live in? And how do I want to participate in them?”
This Midnight Moment marks Eliasson's first project as a guest curator for WeTransfer, which has partnered with CIRCA as the exclusive Digital Screen partner. “By de-energizing Times Square itself, Eliasson's Lifeworld it offers a rare moment of reflection—a poetic act on a grand scale that has the power to place us in a place designed to constantly maintain our attention and in a political climate that offers little mental relief,” said Jean Cooney, Director of Times Square. Art. “We are excited to introduce this timely and unique midnight show and join this global partnership.” Along with the Times Square display, Lifeworld and appears every evening at 8:24 pm local time until December 31 at Piccadilly Lights in London, K-Pop Square in Seoul, Limes Kurfürstendamm in Berlin and online 24/7 on WeTransfer. com.
Olafur Eliasson's “Your Psychoacoustic Light Ensemble” is on display at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery until December 19. The program is timed for the launch of his work in November “Lifeworld in Times Square, part of the “Midnight Moment” program.
