Olafur Eliasson - Space is Progress - DVD

Film: Born in Copenhagen in 1967, artist Olafur Eliasson is one of the most influential artists of our time. His installations play with the forces of nature, with Eliasson often blending cutting-edge technology with natural forces such as water, wind, light and mist to create a fascinating whole. One installation, for instance, is a room filled with artificial fog that completely obscures the visitor's view. Only the different colours of the fog created by lamps allow a certain orientation. The chance encounter of visitors who do not know each other also creates a certain social effect.

The artist, who works in Berlin and Copenhagen, has also developed fascinating light installations for Frankfurt's Portikus. Eliasson himself, on the other hand, likes to keep himself out of the media. He wants his works, not he, to be the focus of interest. Henrik Lundø and Jacob Jørgensen accompanied the media-shy Eliasson from 2004 to 2009 to create a film portrait of the artist. The result is called Olafur Eliasson - Space is Progress and is far more than just a very interesting portrait of a rather introverted artist. The film also offers the viewer fascinating insights into Eliasson's world of thought and creative process.

The framework of the documentary is the Waterfalls project, in which a total of 13,100,00,000 liters of water fell down artificial waterfalls at various locations in New York for 110 days. The viewer can observe the extensive organization and implementation of this project, which was intended to bring people in the big city together with the beauty of nature, as well as the work on other projects for which Eliasson employs up to 50 people. Nothing is left to chance; precise planning and constructions thought out down to the smallest detail become installations that offer the viewer a very special sensory perception and play with the laws of nature in a sometimes fascinating and magical way.

Olafur Eliasson - Space is Progress is a fascinating documentary that functions both as a portrait of an artistic visionary and as a gripping insight into the contemporary art scene. Not only for art lovers is therefore: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the DVD is on a good level for a documentary. The picture is clean and largely sharp, with only some blurring in the darker scenes and a slight trailing effect during faster camera pans. The audio is mixed quietly and front-heavy for long stretches. For a documentary, however, this is perfectly adequate.

Extras: Unfortunately, the DVD has none to offer bonus material.

Conclusion: Olafur Eliasson - Space is Progress is an extremely worth seeing documentary, which not only portrays an interesting artist personality, but also offers an insight into his creative work. And in the case of Olafur Eliasson, this is particularly exciting. And so, despite the lack of bonus material, this technically well-made DVD is absolutely recommendable for anyone interested in art or engaging portraits!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp