OLAFUR ELIASSON

Kaleidoscopic Telescope, 2001

Stainless steel, wood, mirror

76 34 x 47 14 x 28 38 in. (195 x 120 x 72 cm)

Heather and Tony Podesta Collection, Washington, DC
© Olafur Eliasson

Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson

Olafur Eliasson creates sculpture and installations that depend upon the presence of an engaged viewer. Kaleidoscopic Telescope, for instance, is only complete when a viewer looks through it. He has used the phrases "seeing-yourself-sensing" and "sensing-yourself-seeing" to explain the introspective approach that he hopes to elicit. Eliasson creates phenomenal effects, but also lets one see the technical workings of what would otherwise seem miraculous.

Olafur Eliasson - Kaleidoscopic Telescope