Photographic Typologies: Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson's work addresses many aspects of both the natural and built environment. Often working in a variety of media, Eliasson creates sculptures, installations and photographs that confront the viewer, or experiencer might be a more apt word, with tactile and sensory stimuli culled from nature. Weather is a driving force in his work, especially as it relates to human experience on an increasingly urban planet. Eliasson believes that:

‘As inhabitants, we have grown accustomed to the weather as mediated by the city. This takes place in numerous ways, on various collective levels ranging from hyper-mediated (or representational) experiences, such as the television weather forecast, to more direct and tangible experiences, like simply getting wet while walking down the street on a rainy day. A level between the two extremes would be sitting inside, looking out of a window onto a sunny or rainy street. The window, as the boundary of one’s tactile engagement with the outside, mediates one’s experience of the exterior weather accordingly.’








From Top To Bottom:

The Reykjavik Series, 2003

The Morning Small Cloud Series, 2006

The Waterfall Series, 1996

All Images © Olafur Eliasson