The Weather Project @ Tate Modern

The last two days I have been to see Olafur Eliasson's installation in the turbine hall of the Tate Modern.







Something about the sun makes people sit or lye down and worship it even though it isn't real. As they move towards it they have to sheild their eyes against the glare. The misty air makes the shine physical in the space. People walking towards the light look like aliens on a far away planet, reminiscent of the end sequence in Close Encounters of the Third Kind - misty creatures back lit by an orb. Can't quite tell if they are human or spacemen.

And then you start to look at the way it is all constructed. Bright lights behind a screen creating the sun. Only half the sphere is there. A ceiling of mirrors have been placed the full length of the turbine hall - making the space seem larger than usual. The half sphere appears to be whole becuase of the mirror. You see the entire space, including the mirror image space as one huge room.

And then you start to look at the reflections. All the sunworshippers are reflected back at themselves in the mirrored ceiling. Some are transfixed by their own image and what they look like far far away up there. They start to wave and do star jumps lying down. Three young men yesterday put on a whole performance of running chases, back spins, swimming, sliding movements. For their own amusement and anyone else who was watching's. Today people mostly looked at themselves. One group made a star and opened and closed their legs like a 30s dance sequence in a film - synchronised swimming without the water.

Eerie. Weird. And wonderful.

See also:
Greg.org
Fiachra Gibbons
Adrian Searle