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Olafur Eliasson / Denmark/Iceland b.1967 / The cubic structural evolution project 2004 / ABS plastic / Purchased 2005. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Olafur Eliasson
Olafur EliassonThe cubic structural evolution project 2004
Not Currently on Display
Olafur Eliasson’s The cubic structural evolution project is an interactive work in which the audience participates in the construction of a cityscape using white Lego blocks. We are invited to play and, more seriously, we are reminded of the many decisions which contribute to the formation of a city, and our own potential role in this process. The work is intended to ‘evolve’ endlessly, the structures which emerge in the making, are also de-constructed as the total project transforms day-to-day. The work should never achieve a static, ‘finished’ condition. Eliasson states:
. . . my works in general discuss the notion of a reality being constructed, that ideas such as ‘nature’ or ‘science’ are models for how we perceive reality. So the notions of ‘construction’ and ‘models’ are very present in all my work. I have always put an effort into exposing the way my work has been constructed, so as to suggest that there are not any universal values connected to human experience. Actually I would argue that there is no ‘nature’ but only ‘culture’ and that as we experience so called ‘nature’ we also cultivate or constitute it.
Olafur Eliasson is a Danish–Icelandic artist known for large-scale installations that employ natural elements, such as light, water and air, to enhance the audience’s experience. Driving Eliasson’s practice are his interests in space, perception and movement. Inspired to connect nature and art, many of his works recreate natural phenomena, and engage with a range of social and environmental issues. Eliasson’s works often challenge viewers’ perceptions of reality — he considers how an experience in a gallery setting might lead to a change in behaviour outside it.
For Eliasson, art is ‘very much about the way we link thinking and doing’:
So what is between thinking and doing? I would say, there is experience . . . Experience is about responsibility. Having an experience is taking part in the world. Taking part in the world is really about sharing responsibility.1
Endnotes:
1 Olafur Eliasson, Playing with space and light, TED Talk 2009 <https://www.ted.com/talks/olafur_eliasson_playing_with_space_and_light>, accessed November 2019.