The immersive ring Olafur Eliasson built in Beijing Red Brick Art Museum creates a such natural phenomenon environmental vibe, which is also seen in a number of other works of his, to give the audience a unique & unspeakable feeling toward this ‘light space’ he has created.

 

I went there 3 years ago, not long after its opening. One of the most impressive details I have noticed was that Olafur didn’t build up the complete circle: instead, only half of it had been built, and visually we saw it as a whole when the other half was reflected onto the mirror ceiling. The good thing about this structure was that we could see ourselves merging into the environment when we look above.

 

One thing about Olafur’s works that people have been talking about it a lot, yet we still cannot complement more about, is his use of color. The strong orange light has coated everything in that room into an orangish color (including all the audience), and creates a such openness for a room-limited space. The usage of mirror walls and the trace of ‘man-made’, a neat and orderly artificial feeling, both creates me a space to think about our relationship between nature and technology, physiological reactions and mental reactions of us.