TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) is hosting the highly anticipated first major solo exhibition in Taiwan by acclaimed Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson.
Titled "Your Curious Journey," the exhibition runs through Sept. 21 and offers a comprehensive retrospective of Eliasson’s 30-year career, featuring 17 iconic works spanning installations, paintings, sculptures, and photography.
Eliasson is known for his nature-inspired, kinetic installations and for bringing phenomena like rainbows indoors. Two highlights at TFAM include his early seminal work "Beauty," which uses a play of water and light to create a rainbow, and the more recent "The Last Seven Days of Glacial Ice."
"Beauty" exemplifies Eliasson’s belief in the viewer as co-creator. Through the refraction and reflection of light and mist, the installation produces a natural spectrum of colors. As visitors move around the piece, the rainbow shifts with their position, making each experience unique.
"The Last Seven Days of Glacial Ice" captures the stages of glacial melt in a series of striking bronze sculptures. The forms are modeled on ice fragments found on Iceland’s Diamond Beach, digitally scanned before melting. Each of the seven bronze blocks is paired with a clear glass sphere representing the equivalent volume of melted water, serving as a poignant reminder of climate change and glacial retreat.
The exhibition’s title refers not only to the viewer’s physical journey through the works but also to a process of intellectual and emotional exploration. Eliasson’s pieces are not static; they invite interaction, drawing attention to unnoticed aspects of daily life.
"Your Curious Journey" is part of a three-year, five-city tour launched in 2024. The exhibition began at the Singapore Art Museum, followed by the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in New Zealand. Taipei marks the third stop before it travels to Museum MACAN in Jakarta and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila.
About the artist: Olafur Eliasson
Born in 1967 and raised in Iceland and Denmark, Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His father, both an artist and a fisherman’s cook, and his tailor mother—who encouraged his interest in breakdancing—fostered his early sensitivity to space and perception.
In 1995, he moved to Berlin and founded Studio Olafur Eliasson, a collaborative platform bringing together artists, craftspeople, and architects. He represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed "The Weather Project" at Tate Modern in London.
Eliasson has created numerous public works, including "The New York City Waterfalls" in 2008 and "Ice Watch" from 2014 to 2018. Since 2019, he has served as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for Climate Action, consistently advocating for environmental awareness and sustainability.
(Taiwan News, Lyla Liu video)
