Olafur Eliasson returns to Tate Modern with Olafur Eliasson: In real life. This is the Danish-Icelandic artist’s first major UK exhibition and survey of his career to date. It comes 16 years after 2003’s The weather project, his world-renown piece which transformed the museum’s Turbine Hall “into a social space where sculpture was bound up with the experience of being together with other visitors.”

The show consists of over 40 works including immersive installations, sculpture, photography and paintings — on Level 2 of the Blavatnik Building, but also at the Terrace Bar and in the Turbine Hall, along with a waterfall outside on the South Terrace. AM especially recommends walking through Din blinde passager (Your blind passenger), a beautiful and sometimes unsettling fog corridor.

Olafur Eliasson: In real life opens on 11 July and continues until 5 January 2020.

‘Ventilator’, 1997, Fan, wire, cable, Dimensions variable

 

‘Model room’, 2003, Wood table with steel legs, mixed media models, maquettes, Dimensions variable

 

‘Moss wall’, 1994, Reindeer moss, wood, wire, 20 x 5 metres

 

‘Moss wall’ (background); and ‘Wavemachines’, 1995, Acrylic, transparent plastic sheet, water, ink (yellow), motors, transformer, 1.3 x 21.2 x 90 metres

 

‘The seeing space’, 2015, Glass, 64 x 64 x 64 cm

 

‘No nights in summer, no days in winter’, 1994, Steel, propane, 68 x 89 x 86 cm

 

‘Beauty’, 1993, Spotlight, water, nozzles, wood, hose, pump, Dimensions variable

 

‘Din blinde passager’ (Your blind passenger), 2010, Fluorescent lamps, monofrequency lamps (yellow), fog machines, air circulation system, wood, aluminium, steel, fabric, plastic sheet, Dimensions variable

 

‘Din blinde passager’ (Your blind passenger)

 

‘In real life’, 2019, Aluminium, colour-effect filter glass (green, yellow, orange), 208 x 208 x 208 cm

 

‘Your spiral view’, 2002, Stainless steel mirror, steel, 32 x 32 x 8 metres [Disorienting walk-through installation, multiple sharp edges — What could possibly go wrong?]

‘Eine Beschreibung einer Reflexion, oder aber eine angenehme Übung zu deren Eigenschaften’ (A description of a reflection or, a pleasant exercise on its qualities), 1995, Spotlight, mirrors, projection screen, motor, tripod, Dimensions variable

 

‘Your uncertain shadow (colour)’, 2010, HMI lamps (green, orange, blue, magenta), glass, aluminium, transformers, Dimensions variable

 

‘Big bang fountain’, 2014, Water, strobe light, pump, nozzle, stainless steel, wood, foam, plastic, control unit, dye, 16.5 x 16 x 16 metres

 

Olafur Eliasson, wearing a ‘Little Sun’ lamp

 

Photo credit and text: Patrick Nguyen.