Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Contact’ is Both Sublime and Mind Blowing

We are always amazed by Olafur Eliasson’s work. One of our favorite exhibitions was his ‘Weather Project’ at the Tate Gallery in London: a gigantic representation of the sun dominating the entire hall. “Contact’, installed at Frank Gehry’s Foundation Louis Vuitton building, is the latest offering from Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Like much of his previous work, ‘Contact’ uses the various elements, in this case mostly light, to create strange and beautiful experiences for gallery visitors.

‘Contact’ greets visitors with a chunk of space rock, a meteorite, which signals the unusual experience they are about to have. Visitors then walk through the gallery and see a stunning array of optical illusions and breath taking light effects. Everyone who visits the gallery will come away with a different view of what light and space mean.

Eliasson described his latest work as “It is about the horizon that divides, for each of us, the known form the unknown.”

This idea of a horizon is most clearly at work in two different galleries. The first is blacked out space where an eerie orange slices across a curved wall, pulling visitors closer, as it is the only light source on the room. The second place where a divide between known and unknown is most clearly at work is a gallery where you are confronted with a variety of shadows and ice like rays of light. The cave-like room is actually only half there. After a while you realize a huge mirror divides the visual space, showing the real and the unreal.

‘Contact ‘ is that type of unique art that gives both a sense of peace and sense of wonder to the visitor.