Olafur Eliasson at the MCA

This summer the MCA presents Take your time: Olafur Eliasson. It is the first large-scale exhibition of works by this Danish-Icelandic artist to be presented in Australia.

It may not be surprising that a visual artist from Iceland would centre his work around nature, light and reflection. What's more surprising is that this artist would then start experimenting with the effects these have on people and ultimately make the audience a part of his artworks.

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's exhibition "Take your time" encompasses 30 works from 1993 to the present and was conceived in 2007 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It has previously travelled to New York, Dallas and Chicago. Sydney is its only Australian venue.

The first installation, "Room for one colour", introduces the themes of light, colour and audience participation: You enter a room with nothing in it except monochromatic bulbs emitting yellow light. At first, that doesn't look like much, but then you begin to realise how much it affects your perception of colour. You start looking at each other and saying things like, Your lips look blue! Oh look, my bag doesn't look red anymore! You keep seeing purple (the complementary colour of the spectrum) out of the corner of your eye. It's like a drunk experience without getting drunk – a very surreal visual state that ultimately becomes quite disorienting.

In a similar vein, the "360° room for all colours" presents a panoramic experience of light with changing lights in a round, walk-in installation, but after the yellow room, it somewhat lacks effect.

To reach other parts of the exhibition, you then move through the "One-way colour tunnel", a prisma/kaleidoscope-effect tunnel that actually works from both sides – going in, it's mostly black with only a few colours, whereas coming back it's all mirrors and colours (think "Alien" vs. "Avatar"). It's actually impossible to figure out which way the "one-way tunnel" is supposed to be, which may well be the intention – a play on perception that relies on the reaction of its viewers.

Another take on the same concept is the "Sunset kaleidoscope", installed in a window looking out onto Circular Quay. It contains a rotating yellow disc and mirrors that reflect up and down as well as left and right, constantly providing new perspectives on the in- and outside of the MCA. Keep an eye on the people behind you or a queue might form behind you without you even noticing! Almost a reflection of the "Sunset kaleidoscope" is "Yellow versus purple", actually an older artwork, consisting of a much larger yellow glass disc lit by a spotlight. As the disc turns, it throws a purple reflection that circles around the walls and thus around the viewers.

Combining the themes of light, reflection and nature, "Beauty" consists of a veil of water coming down from the ceiling, illuminated by lights in an otherwise dark, black room, with the effect varying from a very silky texture to rainbow colours in the water as you move through the room. Nature is also represented in the "Moss wall", a creepily organic installation of live moss that fascinates and repels in equal amounts (unfortunately, you can't touch it).
The exhibition is complemented by a selection of Eliasson's photographic works taken in Iceland where he spent his childhood. They explore light and shapes, rock structures and underground caves, rivers and horizons.

One particularly interesting study presents the same location taken from the same spot in what must have been about 20-30 minute intervals during one day, from darkness to midday and back to darkness. These photographs really bring the exhibition together, exploring Eliasson's personal background and inspirations.

This insight into Eliasson's creative process is unfortunately missing from a room containing colour studies and models from Eliasson's studio, an aspect of the exhibition that would have been much more interesting and insightful if more information had been available – such as technical background on complementary colours and the effects you can achieve with them as well as further information on what the models were for and where they were used. This is definitely a missed opportunity to allow audiences a deeper insight into the artist and his studio, the way he thinks, works and creates.

The all-white, all-audience-participation Lego pieces you can build into skyscrapers and other forms as you enter or exit the exhibition fit perfectly into the concept of colour and light that is the central theme of this exhibition – white being the absence of all colour as well as bright and reflecting. The meaning is therefore not in the colours, but in the shapes, in the imagination of the audience.

Overall, the exhibition seems a bit short and small for the money you spend. On the other hand, it's the perfect opportunity to get introduced to the scope of this artist's work – a work that will challenge how you think about your perception of light and colour, about the nature of these two and about your role as a usually passive member of the audience.

Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George Street, The Rocks/Circular Quay, Sydney Open daily 10am – 5pm 10 December 2009 - 11 April 2010
Tickets: Adults $15, Concession/Student $10, Family (2 adults and 3 children aged 13-17) $40, MCA Members & Children (12 years old and under) free
www.mca.com.au