Spatial Interventions In The Palace of Versailles By Olafur Eliasson

Since 2008 the Palace of Versailles has put on a number of exhibitions dedicated to French or foreign artists, each one lasting a few months and creating a special dialogue between their works and the Palace and Gardens of Versailles. This year, Olafur Eliasson was invited to strike installations in the french monument. From june 7 to october 30, 2016, the Palace of Versailles will host a sequence of spatial interventions anyone wants to miss.

The exhibition is organized in two parts: a series of outdoor works situated around the picturesque grounds, and pieces placed within the ornately-decorated palace. In the gardens, three monumental installations deal with various states of water — fluid, fog, and absence, as materialized by glacial rock flour. Here, from within the palace, ‘waterfall’ can be viewed along the axis of the grand canal.

The glacial rock flour garden is another installation that comprises fine-grained particles of rock.

Expanding upon the theme of water, Eliasson’s ‘fog assembly’ surrounds visitors in a hazy landscape, enveloping them within a circular veil of fine mist. In the words of the artist ‘I use fog and water to amplify the feelings of impermanence and transformation’.

Inside the château, the spatial interventions are activated by mirrors and light. While the furnishings of the rooms remain unchanged, the interiors are enhanced through a multiplication of perspectives created by a sequence of mirrors.

Within the exhibition, Eliasson invites visitors to become active participants in the reality that surrounds them. They can discover their own reflection in unexpected locations, modifying the perception of the rooms.

The work of Olafur Eliasson is internationally acclaimed. Over the years, Eliasson has had significant exhibitions in France, from Chaque matin je me sens différent, chaque soir je me sens le même (2002), at the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, to Contact (2014), the first solo exhibition at the newly built Fondation Louis Vuitton, where Eliasson also created the permanent installation Inside the horizon (2014).