II.G. Celdran-Buettner Renaissance Program

Question 1

What can I learn from Olafur Eliasson?

Answer 1

A. Sophisticated art can be created from simple building blocks like smoke, and mirrors (and also, light, color, and shapes).
B. Colors (like shapes, symbols, sounds, etc.) have very subtle but strong emotional impact.
C. Notable projects: creating a rainbow, glass globes that change colors as the viewer moves, waterfall under Brooklyn Bridge, waterfall at Versailles, light show at a barn with triangular trusses (very simple and elegant approach), the Ice Project (art and activism), Sunflower Project (art and philanthropy), etc.
D. Art has different impact and interpretation from different viewers and should not be overexplained.
E. Art should not be something that one does with expensive materials and far in between—it should be wabi and done daily. The house on a fjord looks complicated but has a simple design of manipulating a modular skin and void or positive and negative space.
F. Art is not something done with valuable resources and far in between but should be done with wabi-sabi and often.