Contact is Eliasson's first solo show in France since that pivotal exhibition at MAM, and only the second solo exhibition presented at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
"First imagine that you are an asteroid," Olafur Eliasson's voice intones purposefully. "Focus on the feeling of floating through space and try to be present in that idea." He pauses. "Now be aware of your asteroid self and at the same time the endless space around you." He continues, encouraging you, the listener, to experience the artworks as other asteroids, sliding by you as you continue on your asteroidal trajectory. "Now you have familiarized yourself with the possibility oforbiting through the exhibition," he concludes.
The exhibition revolves around two large-scale, circular installations. In the first,Map for unthought thoughts, a light source situated on the floor of the gallery illuminates a lattice structure that casts a choreography of shadows across the wall, with the viewers' bodies playing an integral role in the dynamic interplay of shadows. A mirrored wall completes the illusion of an entirely circular space. InContact's second installation viewers encounter a sloping floor, emulating a planetary curve, and a bright, golden horizon line, reminiscent of a celestial eclipse. In a transitional space set between the installations the space titled Double Infinityforms a passageway in the shape of the infinity symbol, with two portholes on either end, perhaps suggesting the looping pathways of electrons or satellites, the future and the past, or the grip of space.
If you are in Paris, take a trip down asteroid lane...
Foundation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris, France