Olafur Eliasson: The parliament of reality

With a series of special programs, discussions, and debate with Peter Galison, Lars Lerup, Molly Nesbit, Felicity Scott, Peter Sloterdijk, Andrea Zittel, and Olafur Eliasson

Four years in the making, Olafur Eliasson's first major outdoor public art project in the United States will be officially inaugurated on Saturday, May 16th. Entitled The parliament of reality, Eliasson's man-made island is surrounded by a 30-foot circular lake, 24 trees, and wild grasses. The 100-foot diameter island is composed of a cut-bluestone, compass-like floor pattern (based upon meridian lines and navigational charts), on top of which 30 river-washed boulders create an outdoor seating area for students and the public to gather. The island is reached by a 20-foot-long stainless steel lattice-canopied bridge, creating the effect that visitors are entering a stage or outdoor forum. At night, the installation is bathed in a precisely focused, moon-like light, creating deep shadows behind the pattern of the rocks.

The parliament of reality is located directly opposite the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. While the undulating stainless steel surface of the Frank Gehry–designed Fisher Center dramatically rises up when it is approached, Eliasson's installation is nestled into the landscape and will over time be less visible as the trees grow. The project is conceived to evolve gradually and requires little maintenance. The installation, which was designed specifically with the college and its site in mind, is based on the original Icelandic parliament, the Althing (literally a "space for all things"), one of the world's earliest democratic forums. The artist envisions the project as "a place where students and visitors can gather to relax, discuss ideas, or have an argument. The parliament of reality emphasizes that negotiation should be the core of any educational scheme. It is only by questioning, that real knowledge is produced and a critical attitude can be sustained."

The parliament of reality returns to many of Eliasson's earliest and most central themes, creating an artwork that is only completed by the viewer or participant, an environment that heightens our sensorial experience and a space that combines the natural world with the man-made without resolving the tension between the two. Essential to the experience of the project is the time when it is visited. In the winter, for example, the lake will freeze and the surrounding trees will be barren of their leaves. In the summer the tall wild grasses cover the large open field to the south of the site, and in the fall the viewer is presented with a magnificent cover of golden foliage.

The project was commissioned by the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard), continuing its efforts to bring contemporary art into the beautiful landscape of the campus. The project cost 1.4 million USD and has been fully funded and developed by the LUMA Foundation, its first major collaboration with CCS Bard.

Two days of inaugural events have been developed in keeping with the idea of the project as a space for debate and gathering and Bard College's emphasis on providing opportunities for interdisciplinary studies. On Friday, May 15, a conference dedicated to issues surrounding the use of music as torture will be led by The Human Rights Project (HRP) at Bard.

On Saturday, May 16, Olafur Eliasson will lead an international group of scholars and artists in a series of presentations and performances devoted to our use of space, architecture, art, and design. Participants include: Peter Galison, Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University; Lars Lerup, Dean and William Ward Watkin Professor of Architecture, Rice University; Molly Nesbit, Professor of Art, Vassar College; Felicity Scott, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Columbia University; Peter Sloterdijk, Rektor, Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe; Andrea Zittel, artist; and Olafur Eliasson.

Following the symposia and presentations on the island, Leon Botstein, President of Bard College, will formally inaugurate The parliament of reality at 5:30 p.m. Olafur Eliasson; Maja Hoffmann, founder, LUMA Foundation; and Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies will take part in the inauguration.

All events are free and open to the public. Additional funding for the inaugural events has been provided by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Osher Foundation.

About Olafur Eliasson Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's career spans more than 15 years. He was a recent focus of a major retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Take Your Time), which has traveled throughout the United States to the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Dallas Museum of Art, and is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Eliasson's immersive environments, sculptures, and photographs evoke or incorporate atmospheric conditions and landscapes while foregrounding the viewer's experience of the works. His geometric constructions use multicolored washes; focused projections of light; mirrors; and natural elements such as water, stone, and moss to shift the viewer's perception of place and self. By creating hybrid spaces of nature and culture, Eliasson prompts an intensive engagement with the world and a fresh consideration of everyday life.

Olafur Eliasson
The parliament of reality