Olafur Eliasson’s phenomena in Manila
Before even encountering an artwork, “Your Curious Journey” has begun. Rather than the usual vinyl wall text on plastic backing, the museum team opted to apply exhibition titles and descriptions through non-toxic silkscreen methods. Its typeface is “Erotica,” thoughtfully chosen for its resemblance to handwriting, meant to evoke jotting down observations while traveling. Even the exhibition brochure was conscientiously made, limited to four colors to reduce ink.
These are all part of a long list of decisions made to limit the show’s environmental footprint.
This way of thinking is fitting for the oeuvre of Olafur Eliasson, an artist whose practice has shapeshifted fields of art, science, architecture, and environmental activism. You might recognize the Danish Icelandic artist from Netflix’s “Abstract: The Art of Design,” where his immersive installations pull viewers’ perceptions into play.
Now, after traveling around 28,000 miles by sea freight (the transportation method with the least environmental impact) from Berlin through Singapore, Auckland, Taipei, and Jakarta, “Your Curious Journey” arrived for its final leg at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) last July 9, for arguably the biggest institutional exhibition by an international contemporary artist ever mounted in the Philippines.
Natural phenomena within white walls
For all of Eliasson’s great conceptual sophistication, his works are spellbinding because of his chosen mediums. He works purely with what already exists around us, from light to water to wind. Or by manipulating mirrors, color, and even moss.
“Moss Wall” (1994) is the first work that greets walk-ins, spanning eight meters tall in an expanse of reindeer moss that stretches from floor to ceiling. The living moss absorbs carbon dioxide inside the gallery, while nearby, you can touch a sample of the soft species or even smell its earthy, slightly pungent fragrance.
Right in front of it hangs “Ventilator” (1997), which is nothing more than a standard industrial fan hanging from the ceiling. But this fan never settles into a predictable rhythm, instead twisting and swinging, changing direction according to the currents in the room. Its sway, for example, changed from the full house on opening night to a regular day with less foot traffic. As MCAD invigilator Kamila Chan explained during the walkthrough, “It’s showing us air prints. It’s making air visible.”
Nearby, “The Glacier Melt Series” presents 30 C-print photographs documenting Icelandic glaciers in 1999, then again in 2019, side by side. While there is no dramatic before-and-after shock factor, Eliasson intended for viewers to sit with the slow yet constant violence of climate change.
Further in, “The Last Seven Days of Glacial Ice” (2025) shows seven bronze sculptures that document the melting shape of a block of glacial ice, each paired with a glass sphere representing the amount of water lost day by day.
Around it are mounted frames, which at first resemble a series of minimalist ink drawings. But on a closer look, they’re records of the exhibition’s journey—each trip by sea, a seismographic instrument traveled inside one of the cargo crates, recording every movement of the ship onto paper, from Berlin to Singapore, Taipei to Jakarta.
Unsurprisingly, the Manila drawings are more frenetic, with heavy seismographic scraggles during moments in Manila traffic.
Sound and color
On view is one of Eliasson’s most celebrated experiments, “Yellow Corridor” (1997). In MCAD’s 39-meter passageway, monochromatic sodium lamps flood the corridor with a single frequency of yellow light, playing with capacities of the eye. The haze strips every object of its natural color, as red shirts, blue jeans, and even blonde hair collapse into varying shades of gray.
Or, you might have already seen the evanescent, much-photographed work “Beauty” (1993), a curtain of mist illuminated by a single spotlight. Step closer and a rainbow flickers, hovering within the falling water. It appears different with every movement or angle of vision, so no two visitors encounter the same image. You can even walk through it.
In the neighboring room, “Object Defined by Activity (Then)” (2009) turns a simple fountain into an ephemeral image. A strobe light interrupts the motion of the spray at precise intervals, creating a tangible, real-life optical illusion where the water appears frozen in midair.
Upstairs, the simplicity of light is seen further in “Circumstellar Resonator” (2018). From afar, it resembles an elaborate digital projection reminiscent of Hilma af Klint’s luminous abstractions.
But crane your neck all you like—there is no projector in sight. The kaleidoscopic rings are created by nothing more than a light bulb, a prism, filtered glass, and light itself.
Then comes the fun part, with “Your Pluralistic Coming Together” (2024), where tinted glass filters, from turquoise to magenta, cast passersby’s silhouettes into colored choreography on the wall.
Between awareness and wonder
“Your curious journey” brims with works to be discovered. “Double Spiral” (2001), made from a single stainless steel tube, creates the illusion of spirals going both up and down, depending on which way you look. Meanwhile, “Wind Writings and Sun Drawings” turns nature’s course into etchings, and the unconventional video work “Movement Microscope” glimpses into Eliasson’s multidisciplinary Berlin studio.
One of the few museums in the city still free to the public, the exhibition at MCAD opens up an encounter with one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary artists, without the barrier of admission.
This raises the burning question eco-aesthetics often asks in cultural life: Amid the ravages and disasters of climate change, what role can art play, if any?
For this Manila leg, Eliasson writes, “This may be the sum of your experiences or the result of a chance encounter… They become complete when you, the viewer, engage with them, with your curiosity. “
As Eliasson resists spectacle, making the often imperceptible effects of climate change noticeable, he leaves the science and the process exposed, recalibrating how we see the world, from a gust of wind to the passage of light.
And ultimately, the effect of “Your curious journey” reignites the feeling of a child’s curiosity, one who is discovering light, color, or a rainbow, for the very first time.
“Your curious journey” is on view at MCAD Manila until Nov. 15. Admission is free. The museum is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
