OLAFUR ELIASSON
Kaleidoscopic Telescope, 2001
Stainless steel, wood, mirror
76 3⁄4 x 47 1⁄4 x 28 3⁄8 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.
