Olafur Eliasson. Symbiotic seeing

One’s attention is soon caught by the magical allure cast by the art of the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967 in Copenhagen), who for more than two decades has been sending out sensational exhibits from his Berlin studio for ambitious and well-equipped institutions such as the Kunsthaus Zürich. Eliasson became a superstar with a huge installation in the gigantic Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, where he set up an artificial sun (‘The Weather Project’, 2003). At the Kunsthaus some twenty installations, sculptures and lightworks could be experienced in the 1000 m2 exhibition hall. The highlight turned out to be the immersive installation Symbiotic Seeing, which gave the exhibition its title. When visitors entered, they discovered a theatrical vision that one might rather expect to see in the extreme north. And yet this display was anything but genuine nature, doubtless art, produced with a vast technological effort. In conversation with the curator of the exhibition, Mirjam Varadinis, the artist emphasized that art has the capacity to present urgent current topics, even if they are as abstract as climate change, in such a way that they can be experienced with the physical senses. After that, it is not surprising that since 2019 Eliasson has also held the office of climate ambassador for the United Nations. The title ‘Symbiotic Seeing’ refers to the cohabitation of various species of living beings for their mutual benefit, which is of central importance to the artist: Eliasson wants to imagine the future of mankind so that we are one component in a huge context, which is not simply shaped by our dominance. But, according to Eliasson, technology is to be understood as nothing more than the opposite of nature. Success proved that the exhibition, exclusively produced for the Kunsthaus Zürich and widely reported on in Switzerland as well as the rest of Europe, was in the right: Eliasson‘s works were in harmony with the zeitgeist and satisfied the wish for slow rhythms and contemplative experiences. Long queues built up in front of the exhibition, and the catalogue was reprinted several times.