ART
SEEING THE LIGHT
Alfie Keenan (Year 12) was transported by Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project
A rt is often described as transporting the viewer, but normally this description is used metaphorically. The Weather Project , made as part of The Unilever Series at Tate Modern, literally transported you to another world, as it completely transformed the huge space of the Turbine Hall, making it feel like its own ecosystem. As the title suggests, Eliasson was interested in exploring the weather as an ever-present and unavoidable factor in our lives. He sees the weather as one of the only natural encounters that can be experienced in the city and is interested in the interdependent relationship this creates. With The Weather Project , Eliasson tried not only to bring a part of London into the space of Tate Modern, but also hoped that the experience of the work would mean the viewer would take something of it back out into the city. The piece itself is a representation of the sun and the sky that fills the expanse of the Turbine Hall. An orange glow swells through the space, similar to a light at sunset, making all of the shadows and corners even darker than they should be, meaning the light that is available to the viewer is made even more precious. Wisps of mist are illuminated by the light as they float and dance in the air, filling the cavernous space and wrapping around the viewers. In reality, at the far end of the hall a huge semicircle made up of hundreds of mono- frequency lamps is reflected, along with the floor below, in a
mirrored surfaced on the roof of the hall, creating an illusion of the sun. To add to the atmosphere of the space, there are also machines that release a fine mist, which constantly changes throughout the day as it forms cloud shapes that then billow and dissipate. The constant movement and change in the piece behaves much like the actual weather. The mono-frequency lamps, commonly used for street lamps, emit a very narrow frequency so that no colours other than yellow and black are visible. That’s why it is difficult to see anything but the silhouettes of people in any photographs of the piece. The limitation of colours adds to the sense of otherworldliness as the light not only affects the space, but affects the people within it as well. Eliasson believed the weather has not only impacted the physical structure of the city but also affected its inhabitants; the weather of a city can easily shape the attitudes of the people who live there, as is suggested by the cliché that people think everyone in London is miserable because it’s always raining. The mist accentuates the otherworldly feeling even further as the haze softens the space, and the fluctuations in atmosphere and light make you question your sensory perception. The emotional atmosphere of the piece makes viewers feel as if they are in another world where the normal rules don’t quite apply. We are transported to a stylised version of reality
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