Year: 2002
Medium: color-effect filter glass, stainless steel, mirror
Dimensions: 46.4 x 46.4 x 5.7 cm (18 1/4 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Edition: No.5 of 12 + 3 A.P.
Acquired from Sotheby’s, 2023
A round mirror and a piece of glass are stacked together. On the left-hand side facing the work, the two are almost in contact with each other, while on the right-hand side, there is a gap of about 3cm between them. The mirror is an ordinary one, but the glass appears to be treated with a filter that splits the transmitted light into yellow and blue. Eliasson has presented many optical phenomena using glass and mirror in his works. This work combines the effects of transmission and reflection through mirror and glass. Facing the work when it is hung on the wall, the glass inevitably catches the viewer’s gaze at a slightly off-angle. Conversely, the view reflected off the glass surface within sight of the viewers is the view from the right-hand rear side, which should not come into sight of the actual viewer. The viewers see their image overlayed on the mirror bouncing straight back at them through the glass. Is the image of oneself that the artwork reflects truly the same as what one has experientially continued to believe in as reality? The mirror behind is shielded by glass with a color-effect filter, only a fraction of wavelengths that ripped down from reality can reach the mirror. Moreover, the spatial phase even changes based on the angle of the glass. The belief in one’s physical identity and the stability of the world, which one believes to be solid, can be easily destroyed.
