About the work Quadrible Light Sensor Mobile

OLAFUR ELIASSON

ABOUT THE WORK

Quadrible light ventilator mobile, 2002/03
Mixed media
Variable dimension

The large electric mobile artificially recreates two natural phenomena: wind and light. Our attention is soon drawn to the sweeping light, and as we approach we also feel the wafts of air intermittently produced by the mobile's fans.

Usually mobiles are associated with natural breezes setting off the mobile's rotations. Here the wind and the movement are created artificially with electricity. Just like the light, which mimics that found in nature, is produced artificially.

Thus the mobile both presents and represents two fickle phenomena: light and wind, captured in time and space.

Artifice is natural
The mobile's movements with the prominent light cone focus on our own movements in the room – whether we choose to physically follow the sweeping journey of the lights or stand still and just follow the movements with our eyes. This is Eliasson encouraging us to make up our own mind and analyse the work from our own wants and movements.

- and art is science
Quadrible Light Ventilator Mobile conveys Eliasson's interest in the relations between culture and nature, science and art. Other artists have explored the mobile as a moving sculpture but Eliasson associates it with scientific ambitions, making the sculpture appear as a compound between art and science. Eliasson always utilises visible technology in his installations, emphasising his scientific focus. By mirroring and isolating this effect emulating nature in a context and a room reserved for art and aesthetics, Eliasson juxtaposes two ostensibly opposing entities, each enhancing the other.