Art of deception

Olafur Eliasson's art has already been gracing Berlin for weeks, though most people would not have realized it. Chalk lines trail through parks and disappear under bushes. Next to some trees and lampposts there are bicycles with mirror-covered wheels. Large logs that arrived with the tide on Iceland's shores lie around the city as if they had fallen there by accident.

In addition to all this, a van with an attached mirror has been confronting passers-by, cars, trains, buildings and billboards with their own reflections - a process that was filmed and is now on display at the Martin-Gropius-Bau hall in Berlin.

The exhibition is titled "Innen Stadt Aussen" - which the curators have translated as "Inner City Out" but is also a play on words that could mean "inside instead of outside."

Just like all other aspects of Eliasson's work, the focus of these exhibits is our own perception.

Deceptive impressions

"I think we take what we see and perceive for granted," said Eliasson. "We believe that sight is objective or physical and natural, or even a gift from God in some cases."

Eliasson, however, is convinced that our perception of the world is determined by culture - meaning that the same things can be seen in many different ways, and that sight can be deceiving. His art aims to demonstrate this belief in an entertaining and comprehensible way, forcing us to consider the difference between reality and reflection and between truth and deception.

The nature of reality

Eliasson belives that every artwork needs an observer. According to Daniel Birnbaum, the curator of the exhibition, in the case of Eliasson's work "there are objects you can display in a gallery, but what really counts is the confrontation with them."

Of course, it is also about what goes on in the mind of the beholder - like the moment he or she becomes confused when taking a glance out of the window of the exhibition hall, only to be confronted with an identical-looking building. A mirror mounted outside is responsible for this illusion.

Actors and discoverers

According to Eliasson, the exhibition's visitors are partly responsible for what they see.

"We entrust the visitors with the responsibility to see the exhibition for themselves," said Eliasson. "We don't interpret it for them. We really don't attempt to patronize the people."

To Eliasson, the exhibition's visitors become something like actors and discoverers once they enter the building and decide to continue through one of the two doors. To the right, they encounter a typical Berlin sidewalk - a piece of the city inside the museum. To the left, a path leads through thick fog that changes colors with each step, making the visitor feel isolated and lost in a public place.

For curator Daniel Birnbaum, Eliasson is an artist "who works in a simple, pragmatic, direct and honest manner."

"He doesn't produce illusions," added Birnbaum. "It's rather about the construction of the human gaze."

Optical adventures

Scientists are likely to appreciate this exhibition, as will children, art historians and lovers of simple shapes. Eliasson doesn't just play with light refractions, mirrors and shadows, but also with geometrical shapes like triangles, circles, squares and spheres.

He makes a transparent tube look like it is dancing in the light of a stroboscope, makes geodetic spheres glow, and manages to transform the atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau building into a crystal wonderland. The boundaries between the inside and the outside become blurred - and the visitor is awed.

The exhibition Olafur Eliasson: Innen Stadt Aussen, runs from April 28 through August 9 at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin.

Author: Silke Bartlick (ew)
Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn