Olafur Eliasson: Your Reality Machine

The new installation by Eliasson in the center of Warsaw is open to the public through the end of the year.

In the very heart of Warsaw a sophisticated installation was erected by Danish artist and architect Olafur Eliasson. His pavilion, Your Reality Machine, is part of the cultural programme of Polish Presidency in the Council of the European Union in 2011 and will be available to viewers until the end of the year. Eliasson's project won in the closed competition announced last year by the National Audiovisual Institute. The inviting red-and-white structure of the pavilion encourages an active engagement with culture.

In this respect, Eliasson's project follows the central idea of the Polish Presidency: Art for Social Change. There were seven architectural studios which took part in the competition including FRPO Rodriguez & Oriol Architecture/Landscape, Spain; Medusa Group, Poland; Pezo von Ellrichshausen Arquitectos, Chile; and the winning Studio Olafur Eliasson, Germany. The jury, chaired by artist Miroslaw Balka, selected Eliasson's pavilion for "creating a user-friendly space that stimulates the imagination" and for being most in line with the central idea of the competition as put forward by Balka during committee: "The form of the pavilion should first and foremost be a source of pleasure".

Eliasson's pavilion, although much more discreet than some of his other spectacular architectural projects, is still a very unusual event for Poland, arousing great interest among passers-by.

Eliasson's pavilion, even though much more modest than the architect's other spectacular projects like the artificial several dozen-metre-high waterfalls falling down to Hudson river from Brooklyn Bridge or the artificial sun in the enormous Turbine Hall in Tate Modern, is, however, quite an unusual event in Poland and its unique form excites tremendous interest among passers-by.

From the outside, the pavilion looks like some futuristic architectural spaceship. Some would say it looks like a huge red spider. All, however, would agree that being inside that strange creature is pleasant and opens totally new virtual perspectives. In the central part of the roof (16m x 16m) is a large opening with kaleidoscopic mirrors framing it from its four sides. The mirrors, in an almost dreamlike way, reflect and multiply the immediate surroundings: parts of buildings, greenery, sky and the bits and pieces of the pavilion's red structure itself, which seems to extend ad infinitum. It is precisely in this simple optical device that the whole magic of Eliasson's installation is revealed. And with its light, openwork structure the pavilion allows a beholder to look at the surrounding world from a fresh and surprising vantage.

The mirrors, in an almost dreamlike way, reflect and multiply the immediate surrounding: parts of buildings, greenery, sky and the bits and pieces of the pavilion's red structure itself, which seems to extend ad infinitum.

In the central part of the roof (16x16m) there is a large opening with kaleidoscopic mirrors framing it on four sides.

Olafur's installation at Krakowskie Przedmiescie is not his first project in Poland. On the other side of Vistula River visitors to Bródno Sculpture Park (Bródnowski Park Rzezby) can see his outdoor Negative Glacier Kaleidoscope installation: a composition made of mirrors and lights planted in the ground.
Marcin Szczelina

The mirrors, in an almost dreamlike way, reflect and multiply the immediate surroundings.

Olafur Eliasson: Your Reality Machine

The new installation by Eliasson in the center of Warsaw is open to the public through the end of the year.

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