www.annemoore.net

 

 

 

 

 

Art: Olafur Eliasson

I’m often in awe of museum art; how or when it was created, how it’s presented. It’s a quiet, passive pleasure.

Delight, joy: at a museum? That’s rare.

Olafur Eliasson is the Danish-Icelandic artist whose installations can be seen and experienced at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago Ave.) through Sept. 13.

Go. If you have children or can borrow one, take them.

dscn10431Eliasson — whose “Waterfalls” captivated New York City last summer — creates spaces that turn art inside out, and sometimes bodily involve the viewer.

One of my favorite pieces, “360 degrees room for all coulors” (2002), allows you to step into the color spectrum. You’re inside the work of art.

Another one we liked is a long wide hall lit by monochromatic bulbs, which emit light in a narrow frequency, “Room for one colour” (1997). It looks inviting, a warm bright yellow. Step inside, all color is washed out of your clothes, your skin. You become shades of black and white! You are the art!

That was a favorite of Alex, my 10-year-old daughter, who likes art but dreads museums. We walked through that hall several times, and at a passage, she divided herself: “Okay, where am I black and white? Where am I color?”

Alex didn’t but I loved “Moss Wall” (1994) a room-size installation of slowly growing moss. It looked like a bumpy field of yellow-green cauliflower heads, and gave off a pleasing scent.

Our shared favorite, “Beauty” (1993), is a pitch black room that holds a mounted spotlight shining through a constant falling mist. Depending on where you stand, you see rainbows, gentle waves, ghostly images. You can walk into the mist — most kids do — which creates yet another image, and view.

The show is called “Take your TIme.” I’d promised Alex it wouldn’t be a lengthy visit; we were through the show in 30 minutes. And she was the one who asked to go back to certain installations.

This show will make anyone rethink the term “museum art.” And it will put a smile on your face, with kids or without. www.mcachicago.org

Also in the blog

  We took our daughter Alex on a college tour that began in Berkeley and ended in New Orleans, with stops in between in Austin and Houston. Along with the touring, we did a lot of good eating. Here’s a report. Our host in Berkeley did all the cooking (thank you, Carl!) so I have

(...)

Sure, there’s thrillers, but for me the everyday is full of suspense: will the tremendously fat (educated, interesting) man leave his Brooklyn home? If so, how far will he get? Once out, will he be able to climb the stairs and return? Liz Moore’s “Heft” takes us into the narrowed world of Arthur Opp, a

(...)

I love a good, long read. The book becomes a part of me, an extension of my arms, I panic when I don’t remember where I’ve set it. At 720 pages, Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life is one of those reads. I carried it around for more than a week, and I loved it —

(...)

One thought on "Art: Olafur Eliasson"

  • lisa hazen says:

    I can’t wait to take Finn and check this out! It will be our next rainy day activity. (And it looks like we won’t have to wait long for that.) Thanks, Anne!


  • Comments are closed.