Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
September 8, 2007–February 24, 2008

Contemporary hotshot Olafur Eliasson’s work looks impressive on the pages of a magazine or Web site, but it really needs to be experienced—and I mean experienced—in person. His work is conceptual, but it does not engage only your head, or your eyes; his “environments” and walk-in installations, informed by the Nordic backdrop of a childhood in Iceland and Denmark, envelop you in color and light, cover you in mist, or tease you with a wafting scent. They demand participation. This show, the first major U.S. survey of Eliasson’s work, presents almost 15 years worth of the artist’s installations, sculptures, and photographs. Get yourself to San Francisco to see it this fall, or to MoMA and PS1 in New York or the Dallas Museum of Art next year. —Kris Wilton, Associate Editor



Olafur Eliasson, "360° room for all colours" (2002), Installation view at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

© 2007 Olafur Eliasson. Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery