EYE SEE YOU

Olafur Eliasson’s light sculpture ‘Eye see you’ is coming to the Orangerie. There, it invites visitors to see themselves in relation to the oldest force that keeps us alive: the sun. It gives us energy, but in times of climate change it also poses a threat. This duality in content corresponds to Eliasson’s approach of creating works that, on the one hand, are ‘only’ seen, but on the other hand question how they can be seen.

‘Eye see you’ is both simple and complex. It consists of a bowl on a tripod, a lamp with a single light frequency and two glass panes that change colour depending on the position and movement of the viewer. The resulting work allows for different interpretations: do we recognise a one-eyed and thus seeing subject or – reduced entirely to its materiality – a purely technological object? Or perhaps the centre of an entire universe?

location: Orangerie im Burggarten

Biography:
Olafur Eliasson (born 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is an internationally renowned artist who works with installations, sculptures, and architectural projects. His works often deal with natural phenomena such as light, water, fog, or movement, enabling physical and social processes to be experienced.


Among his best-known projects are the monumental installation “The Weather Project” (2003) at the Tate Modern in London, which staged a giant sun in the Turbine Hall, and “Waterfalls” (2008), artificial waterfalls in public spaces in New York. His social projects, such as “Little Sun” (2012), a solar-powered lamp designed to improve access to light in regions without electricity, are also influential.
Eliasson’s works can be seen in major museums and public spaces around the world. He also teaches as professor of architecture and art at the Berlin University of the Arts. His work combines art, science, architecture, and society, and he is now one of the most influential artists of his generation.

Credits:
Commissioned by Luis Vuitton Malletier
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection