Olafur Eliasson
Take your time
September 8, 2007 – February 24, 2008
San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.357.4000
Widely heralded as one of the most important artists of his generation, Olafur Eliasson nimbly merges art, science, and natural phenomena to create extraordinary multisensory experiences.
Challenging the passive nature of traditional art-viewing, Eliasson engages the observer as an active participant, using tangible elements such as temperature, moisture, and light to generate physical sensations. The works assembled for this presentation–the first U.S. survey of this Icelandic artist’s oeuvre–date from 1993 to the present and reflect all facets of his creative practice. Encompassing sculpture, photography, and large-scale immersive installations–including a newly commissioned kaleidoscopic tunnel that envelops the Museum’s steel truss bridge–these projects are intentionally simple in construction but thrilling to behold, sparking profound, visceral reactions designed to heighten one’s experience of the everyday.
Eliasson describes his artworks as “devices for the experience of reality.” As visitors interact with the pieces, they become conscious of their own cognition. The artist describes the effect as “seeing yourself seeing”–an idea key to all his work.
Organized by Madeleine Grynsztejn, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA, in close collaboration with the artist, Take your time: Olafur Eliasson is accompanied by an extensive catalogue, featuring essays by Mieke Bal, Klaus Biesenbach and Roxana Marcoci, Daniel Birnbaum, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pamela M. Lee, and Henry Urbach, as well as a conversation between Eliasson and artist Robert Irwin. The exhibition will embark on an international tour following its San Francisco debut.
Also opening: Your tempo: Olafur Eliasson
September 8, 2007- January 13, 2008
Presented in conjunction with Take your time: Olafur Eliasson, this special exhibition marks the first public and sole U.S. presentation of Your mobile expectations: BMW H2R project, a new work by Eliasson created as part of BMW’s long-running art car program. Shrouding BMWs hydrogen-powered H2R race car in a new skin of steel mesh, mirror-coated stainless steel, and many layers of ice, Eliasson transforms an object of industrial design into a work of art that critically and poetically reflects on the relationship between global warming and the automotive industry. Organized by Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design, this independent yet complementary exhibition will resonate with the survey, refracting its overarching themes through a single project.
Take your time: Olafur EliassonExhibition information and program schedule:
www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/take-your-time/
Your tempo: Olafur Eliasson
Exhibition information and program schedule:
www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/your-tempo/
Take your time: Olafur Eliasson is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Lead support is provided by Helen and Charles Schwab and the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund. Generous support is provided by the Bernard Osher Foundation, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and Collectors Forum. Additional support is provided by Patricia and William Wilson III, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. Support for education programs has been provided by Helen Hilton Raiser in honor of Madeleine Grynsztejn. Media support is provided by Dwell magazine.
Your tempo: Olafur Eliasson is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and generously supported by BMW. The freezer is supported by locally produced, renewable geothermal energy, provided by Constellation NewEnergy. Media support is provided by Dwell magazine.
