Your feelings and movements complete artwork

“The essence of art is human emotion. What I pursue with my artwork is the foundation of human emotion. Adding the factor of nature is a part of searching the foundation.”

Danish installation artist Olafur Eliasson (49, picture) will hold large-scale solo exhibition “The parliament of possibilities” at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul through February 26, 2017. In a press conference held on Tuesday morning, he called for the gallerygoers to “feel and confirm‎ your unique emotions with nature at a gallery, the most artificial place of all.”

The accredited artist is known for experimental visual artworks employing natural elements including water, wind, rainbow, moss, and stone, as well as semi-nature phenomena installations and light and mirror installations. He has also been participating in social activities to provide eco-friendly energy generation facilities in underdeveloped areas in collaboration with engineers.

On display includes 22 of his popular artworks ranging from his early career in the 1990s to the latest ones. “Moss Wall” created in 1994, is a wall planted with “reindeer moss” a kind of moss found in Iceland, and “Reversed Waterfall” from 1998, shoots water upwards against the gravity, implying a clash between nature and civilization, and “Map for unthought thoughts,” his work of 2014, features multi-layered set of reflections of diamond-shaped stainless steel boards.

The latest work “Rainbow Assembly” created a number of rainbows by shedding spotlights to a wall of water fog in a dark space. The rainbows change color as viewers move around them. “Feelings are not incorporated in an artwork but are created when the artwork meets the viewers. Viewers are the essential factor which completes my works,” said Eliasson.

손택균기자 sohn@donga.com