Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) is an Icelandic-Danish artist known for his large-scale installations, public space projects, and sculptural works exploring the mutability of the viewer’s gaze and experience.
His practice is rooted in the idea that everyone perceives art, objects and environments in their own unique way. Our viewing experience is always shaped by our individual – anthropocentric – viewpoint. Eliasson’s interest in different ways of seeing led him to begin working with kaleidoscopes in the early 2000s, and they have since become one of the recurring elements in his art.
Eliasson’s kaleidoscopic installation on Vallisaari Island can be rotated and shifted to focus on various details in the landscape, inviting viewers to choose which parts of the scenery are successively integrated as part of the work.
Artwork location: Vallisaari Island
Photo: Lars Borges, 2020