Game of mirrors and waterworks: Olafur Eliasson’s magic in Versailles

Game of mirrors and waterworks: Olafur Eliasson’s magic in Versailles

Every summer, the Palace of Versailles commissions a contemporary artist to create a site-specific work for its stunning spaces in Paris’ suburbs. In 2016 the opportunity to interact with the vertiginous perspectives and majestic rooms of the royal castle of Louis the Great went to Olafur Eliasson.

Eliasson’s installations, although the term is somehow reductive in his case, are a form of poetry, but made of relations between people and spaces rather than words.
The works by the Danish-Icelandic artist have the power to disclose secret worlds, and unveil parallel dimensions through what may seems witchcraft, but acrually is a thorough knowledge of physics and technology.

above and cover image:
Olafur Eliasson, Deep Mirror (yellow), 2016
Mirrors, monofrequency light, aluminum, steel, wood, paint (black, white), control unit, 445x180x90 cm. Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Versailles, with its breath-taking spaces – alleys, gardens, and historical architectures – offered Eliasson the chance to reveal once again an insight into nature and natural phenomena that transcends aesthetic fascination (Eliasson uses his works also as instruments to sensitize people to environmental issues, climate change, and a sustainable use of natural resources) and inspires installations – light projections, games of mirrors, and complex geometrical structures – which challenge our traditional vision of the world.

Olafur Eliasson, Fog Assembly, 2016
Steel, water, nozzles, pump system, 4,5 m, diameter 29 m. Palace of Versailles, 2016.
Photo Anders Sune Berg.  Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, Waterfall, 2016
Crane, water, stainless steel, pump system, hose, ballast. Palace of Versailles, 2016.
Photo Anders Sune Berg.  Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, Glacial rock flour garden, 2016
Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Eliasson deals with the castle and gardens of Versailles as a site of experimentation: he does not install “objects”, he rather creates amazing “apparatus” aimed to engage people in an – emotional and humor filled – relationship. All installations were specifically conceived for their exact location within the site; thus, games of mirrors, light installations, and clouds of mist dialog with the gilded surfaces, the stucco decorations, and the waterworks of the royal palace, giving rise at the same time to surprise and curiosity, and stimulating – beyond fun – a profound desire to explore and discover.

Olafur Eliasson, The curious museum, 2016.
Mirror, scaffolding, steel, aluminum. Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, Solar compression, 2016.
Convex mirrors, monofrequency light, stainless steel, paint (white), motor, control unit.
Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, The gaze of Versailles, 2016.
Glass sphere, gold, brass, in two parts. 4x11x12 cm, each sphere 3,5 cm.
Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, Your sense of unity, 2016.
Mirror foil, brass, led lights, wood, paint (black), steel, plastic, control, unit—512x270x466 cm.
Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; © Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson at the palace of Versailles
From June 7 through October 30, 2016