Looks like even folks at The Economist enjoy a little art exhibition now and again. And their latest trip took them to San Francisco to check out the Olafur Eliasson retrospective at the SFMOMA.
Spinning tops and frozen cars
October 4th, 2007; From The Economist print edition
While I haven't been back to the museum to reimmerse myself in the main Eliasson exhibition space on the 5th floor yet (as I said I would), I did roll through last weekend to check out his contribution to the BMW art car project on the second floor. It is no lie: the body of the BMV H2R hyrogen-powered car is made of ice; and you can get right up in its refrigerated home, but be sure to grab a blanket or two on your way in. And so, while there is a message here about automobiles and how we fuel them (and repercussions for our environment), this work follows Eliasson's usual directive, "I make art that creates an experience, not a representation." Here, the work is memorable; even if, at first, you only remember how cold it was - and it is! - hopefully that experience sparks at least a subconscious reaction (conscious would be better, of course) to connect the current implementation of our cars (and transportation at large if you really want to get into it) and it's secondary and tertiary effects.
Get a taste - via video - of Eliasson's powerful use of ice (2 tons of it!) here. But you really should experience San Francisco's newest (and most frozenest!) microclimate for yourself; it runs through January 18th, 2007, before moving on to New York, Dallas and Sydney.
On a separate, but related note, I didn't realize it until reading The Economist article, but Eliasson was also responsible for The Weather Project installation (aka the "big sun") at the Tate Moden a few years back. I happened to be in London at the time, and all I can say is: "Dope". I've read some conflicted things online, but does anyone know if it is still up?
Saturday, October 6, 2007
The secondary and tertiary effects of art
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2 comments:
hi, just saw your blog when researching abt olafur. Thanks for the video and the article. Was a bit irritated by how the BMW manager or sth speaked (we support the creative expression and blahblahblah...)
the weather project is not on. It was part of the "unilever series" in tate modern museum turbine hall. The big sun has been replaced by several other installations like the "big slide" by carsten holler. The latest installation by doris salcedo will be revealed tomorrow (monday 8/10), and will be opened to public on 9th oct till 6th april 08
Ricky, yes, the video is a little corporate-ly slick; I still stuck it up there because it gave a little bit of background on the program. ;)
As for your info wrt The Weather Project, thanks very much! Good info; the installation looks pretty wicked.. from the photos anyway.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/dorissalcedo/default.shtm
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