We popped by the Tate Modern to see the Olafur Eliasson work. I hadn’t fully appreciated how much of a climate activist he was and is.
On a more surface level, there’s a danger that his type of immersive playful work can trip up, but a good test is always a 7 year old. And my 7 year old had a fabulous time, playing in water – holding up rainbows, admiring water falls and hiding in orange fog.
There’s a lengthy wall of all the projects Eliasson is engaged with. It’s a 10000x plus wider impact than Thinking Bigly (my climate performance lecture) but in many ways pointing at the same engagement and challenges.
For those who want to deeper metaphorical thinking, it’s present in the work too. Personal agency (and activism) vs systemic change has cropped in many recent discussions and it is a tension in Thinking Bigly too.
Still for this exhibition it has an immersing playful heart which young and old should enjoy.