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The projects and preoccupations of the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson inspired this collaborative enterprise by artist, curator, scientists, and art critics. In his art, Eliasson explores our conceptions of nature and the scientific tools we use to observe, measure, and control it. Through his wor...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sheikh, Simon
Other Authors: Weibel, Peter
Format: Book Part
Language:unknown
Published: MIT Press 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/18269/
Description
Summary:The projects and preoccupations of the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson inspired this collaborative enterprise by artist, curator, scientists, and art critics. In his art, Eliasson explores our conceptions of nature and the scientific tools we use to observe, measure, and control it. Through his works-installations, site-specific sculptures, and photographs - the laboratory within the museum becomes the site not only of knowledge but also of aesthetic and sensual pleasure. Distinguished by a poetic economy of means and a quiet, elegant beauty, his work combines the ephemeral natural effects of light, water, and wind with more tangible materials such as wood, moss, and grass. Eliasson has often said that he is trying to recapture the Iceland of his childhood - with its hot springs, volcanoes, and frozen landscapes - in his art.