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Beyond human time, 2020 - i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020 - Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Beyond human time, 2020
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020
Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Installation view: Beyond human time, 2020 - i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020 - Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Installation view: Beyond human time, 2020
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020
Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Installation view: Beyond human time, 2020 - i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020 - Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Installation view: Beyond human time, 2020
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik – 2020
Photo: Vigfus Birgisson
Beyond human time, 2020 - Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin – 2020 - Photo: Jens Ziehe
Beyond human time, 2020
Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin – 2020
Photo: Jens Ziehe
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Beyond human time, was produced using pieces of ancient glacial ice that were fished from the sea off the coast of Greenland during production of the large-scale installation Ice Watch, 2014. For that work, realised by Eliasson and the geologist Minik Rosing on three occasions from 2014 to 2018, the large chunks of Greenlandic ice were allowed to melt in public spaces around Europe to raise awareness of the effects of climate change and to encourage action. Eliasson used small fragments from these blocks for the work presented here. The ice was placed on a sheet of thick paper atop thin washes of colour. As the ice gradually melted, the resulting water displaced the pigment, producing organic swells and fades of colour. Employing chance and natural processes, these watercolours are experiments that attempt to enlist the spontaneous behaviour of natural phenomena as active co-producers of the artwork. The artwork thus bears within it traces of time – the days it took to produce it and the millennia it took the glacier to form.

Artwork details

Title

Beyond human time

Year

2020

Materials

Watercolour and pencil on paper
Related
Solo shows