Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967, Denmark)
Room for one colour, 1997

I was not planning to include Eliasson to my list since I could not see any particular pertinence to what I am up to myself. But someone has sent a link to me suggesting that it helped them to understand and appreciate my Yellow Piece…

It would seem to me that Eliasson was playing with perception, tricking the eyes to see the world in monochrome – yellow and black. And in my work I was exploring how much I can ask for from my audience by presenting a lengthy “boring” video showing a yellow wall accompanied by a number of instructions as a means of attuning attention to what’s to come, aiming to create a sense of meaningfulness where there was none. So, from my perspective the works are nearly incomparable apart from the colour. It is even more interesting then that for a member of the audience that link was strong enough to re-interpret one work in the light of the other.

However, if I disregard my own intentions with my piece, I can envision how both works could create predominantly “yellow experience” whatever that may mean for any particular viewer. As I am avid proponent of open work, leaving responsibility for interpretation of the work with the audience, it is an interesting realisation how works with possibly different artistic intents yet comparable methods of execution could be perceived by the audience as related. I don’t know yet if I can act upon this insight somehow, but it is an interesting one… perhaps should have been an obvious one, but oddly it was not…