For the past eight years, the Palace of Versailles has hosted exhibitions of world famous artists, whose works enter into dialogue with the monuments of French architecture. This summer Olafur Eliasson presents his art objects in Versailles. His works, like those of his predecessors, are an intervention in the historical space: waterfalls, fogs, mirrors and light experiments, placed in the park and in the interiors of the palace. “Versailles, which I have invented, is a place that gives inner strength to everyone,” says Eliasson. “He invites visitors to become the authors of their own feelings and sensations, instead of just soaking up this magnificence and admiring it. Versailles gives you the opportunity to express your feelings - and experience something unexpected at the same time; walk slowly through the gardens - and feel how the landscape takes shape."
The exhibition is presented in two parts: the first is a series of installations placed in the park of Versailles, and the other part of the works is housed in the palace. In the park, there are three monumental installations related to different states of water: liquid, fog and its absence, materialized in the form of ice-like stone dust.
The structure called "Waterfall", erected on the Grand Canal, is a continuation of one of Eliasson's significant projects: in 2008, four of his artificial waterfalls appeared at four different points in New York, near the famous city bridges. The new object of the artist is located on the center line of the main parterre of Versailles. It is a "splash" of water rushing down from a crane hovering over the landscape. This installation is a tribute to the landscape architect of Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre, and his unrealized dream of arranging a waterfall in the palace park.
Expanding on the theme of water, Eliasson immerses visitors in a hazy landscape, enveloping them in a circular curtain of fine water droplets. “I use fog and water to heighten my sense of impermanence and fickleness,” says Eliasson. "Art objects" dissolve "the regular layout of the gardens and at the same time bring to life the unrealized projects of André Le Nôtre, such as the placement of a waterfall on the Grand Canal." It was decided to leave this construction open to the audience - as the author explains, to "expand the boundaries of imagination."
Inside the palace itself, Eliasson unfolded a series of installations in which mirrors and light act as active elements. Despite the fact that the furnishings of the halls remain unchanged, the space is enlivened by the multiplication of perspectives created by many reflective planes. Visitors find their own reflection in unexpected places, this technique helps them see the inner space of the palace in a different plane and become active participants in the reality around them.
