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Olafur Eliasson Brings His Unpredictable Art Journey to Taipei
Visitors to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum are stepping into a world of light, water and shifting perception as Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson brings his first-ever solo exhibition to Taiwan.
Titled “Your Curious Journey,” the show is the third stop on Eliasson’s Asia tour and features large-scale installations that blur the boundaries between art, nature and science. Through fog, wind, sunlight and even time itself, the artist challenges viewers to experience art as a dynamic process rather than a static object.
“This art is an opportunity to question yourself. Question your view. Question your journey. Question the traditional way of doing things and open up for new ways of doing things,” Eliasson said. “Art is unstable, right? Art is a surprise.”
One of the most immersive pieces welcomes visitors with a shimmering curtain of mist and rainbow-colored light.
Among the featured works are his “Sun drawings” and “Wind writings” series, created in the desert in 2023. In a behind-the-scenes clip shared by his studio, Eliasson described the wind machine as giving voice to the desert itself: “This is the desert speaking the sound and everything speaking to us.”
Despite working with an array of natural materials for decades, Eliasson revealed one medium he holds closest. “I think my favorite material is maybe time, the time it takes for you to look at something... the journey,” he said.
That concept is deeply embedded in the “Glacier Melt Series,” a long-term project spanning from 1999 to 2019.
Visitors to the Taipei exhibition have been visibly moved. One described an installation that sprays water in total darkness, enhanced by carefully choreographed lighting.
“You could sense it was there from a distance,” the visitor said. “The way the lighting was controlled made the flow of water look like an undercurrent. Under the light, the water seems to be still, but you can hear the sound of it flowing... you can feel the energy flowing in that space.”
Others came with fresh expectations, even if they had seen the show before.
“What’s unique about his works is that they are related to the space, the moment and the viewer’s body,” said another attendee. “So even though I’ve seen this exhibition before in London, I was looking forward to seeing how it would be exhibited at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.”
Eliasson’s exhibition runs through the end of September before moving on to Indonesia. While in Taipei, the artist hopes the public will embrace not only his art but also the spirit of curiosity it invites.
As he puts it: “The journey is the art.”
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