Artist Olafur Eliasson Plays With Space and Permanence in Takeover of Palace of Versailles

For eight years, the Palace of Versailles has allowed artists to use the space to hold large-scale exhibitions, with the intention of creating a dialogue between the work and the monumental architecture. This year’s work features that of Icelandic artist, Olafur Eliasson. With the use of fog, water, mirrors, and light, the artist manipulates the space to evoke unexpected reactions. His outdoor pieces focus on showing the stages of water — fog, fluid, and absent to impose a mood of impermanence on the audience. His indoor pieces use light and reflections to alter the interiors without actually altering the original rooms and their furnishings.