“በጊዜ ላይ ጊዜ (Time-sensitive activity)” è il titolo della mostra di Olafur Eliasson al Museo di Arte Moderna di Addis Abeba.
Modern Art Museum, Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa, 2015 Photo: Michael Tsegaye
በጊዜ ላይ ጊዜ (Time-sensitive activity), opening at the Modern Art Museum, Addis
Ababa, on 26 February, presents an exciting array of artworks by the internationally
acclaimed Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson.
The artist’s first solo exhibition in the region features works revolving around concepts
like light, orientation, mirroring, and ephemerality – topics that have informed
Eliasson’s practice for years. The show brings together outstanding new works, such
as Life of a planet; Crystal nebula; Addis compass; and The complete sphere lamp, a
series specifically developed and produced in Ethiopia; with a selection of seminal
older works, including Colour space embracer, 2005, and Yellow corridor, 1997.
በጊዜ ላይ ጊዜ (Time-sensitive activity) offers an insightful glimpse into the physicality
of Eliasson’s artworks and their incredible ability to transcend conventional perceptions.
Through a simple query of what it means to be a subject in a specific context,
Eliasson challenges visitors to the exhibition to be perceptive of things they usually
take for granted. Eliasson presents visitors with artistic concepts and practices that
emphasise the centrality of creativity, poise agency in the creation of images, and are
reflective and constitutive of the visitors’ environment.
The exhibition came about through Olafur Eliasson’s long-term engagement with
Ethiopia and, in particular, the city of Addis Ababa, a relationship that has intensified
over the last decade.
Crystal nebula, 2015 - Modern Art Museum, Gebre Kristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa, 2015 Photo: Michael Tsegaye
In 2012, Eliasson relocated his Institut für Raumexperimente (Institute for
Spatial Experiments), an experimental platform for arts education (2009–14)
affiliated with the Berlin University of the Arts, to Addis Ababa for an intense
programme of artistic exchange and educational collaboration. Hosted by the
Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at Addis Ababa University, the ten-week residency
culminated in a three-day marathon of art events at Jan Meda Park. Eliasson continues to cultivate ties with Ethiopia through his activity as adjunct professor
at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design and through large-scale projects in
public space.
A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue, produced with the kind support of the
Goethe-Institut in Addis Ababa, will be available from mid-March with contributions
by esteemed professor of law and philosophy Andreas Esheté, curator and educator
Elizabeth W. Giorgis, Olafur Eliasson, and the poets and artists Bekele Mekonnen and
Mihret Kebede.
Also available from mid-March is a book containing four lectures given by Olafur
Eliasson in 2012 at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, University of Addis Ababa.
Titled Turning Thinking into Doing into Art: Lectures in Addis Ababa, the book will be
published by the Institut für Raumexperimente, in English and Amharic.
Life of a planet, 2015 Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2015
Olafur Eliasson (born 1967) is a visual artist who works in a wide range of media,
including installation, painting, sculpture, photography, and film. Since 1997, his critically
acclaimed solo shows have appeared in major museums around the world, such
as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Louisiana Museum
of Modern Art, Denmark; and the Venice Biennale. Established in 1995, his Berlin
studio today numbers about eighty craftsmen, architects, and art historians. From
2009 to 2014, Eliasson ran the Institut für Raumexperimente as a professor at the
Berlin University of the Arts, and in 2014, he became an adjunct professor at the Alle
School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2012, Eliasson founded
the social business Little Sun, together with engineer Frederik Ottesen, to produce
and distribute solar lamps for use in off-grid communities. Eliasson lives and works
in Copenhagen and Berlin.
Founded in 2005, the Modern Art Museum: Gebre Kristos Desta Center of Addis
Ababa University is dedicated to Ethiopia’s celebrated modern painter, and houses
the finest collection of his paintings. The only modern art museum in the country,
the museum is committed to promoting multifaceted experiences of modern and
contemporary art and to presenting artists both from Ethiopia and abroad through
exhibitions and educational programmes.
