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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 10 July 2019

Olafur Eliasson retrospective in London is a sensory feast

By JILL LAWLESS become a focus for Brit-
Associated Press ain’s Tate, a group of gal-
LONDON (AP) — Visitors leries which — like other
don’t just view the new major art institutions — has
London exhibition devoted been targeted by protest-
to Danish-Icelandic artist ers for taking funding from
Olafur Eliasson. They also oil companies and other
feel, smell and taste it. corporations accused of
Eliasson creates large-scale doing social harm.
works that draw on the el- Tate is now making efforts
ements and nature: wood, to go green, and has held
fire, light, water. More than meetings gathering togeth-
40 of his pieces feature in a er artists and environmen-
huge retrospective open- tal activists. All the works on
ing this week at London’s display in the Eliasson exhi-
Tate Modern . bition were transported to
Visitors can get splashed by London by sea and land —
a 36-foot (11-meter) water- no airplanes were used.
fall, touch a moss-covered “We’re all learning, and
wall, feel a misty rainbow, we (in the art world) have
cast colorful shadows, walk to learn very quickly,” said
through a mirrored kalei- Emma Lewis, one of the ex-
doscope and inch blindly hibition’s curators.
down a tunnel filled with In Eliasson’s view, there is a
multicolored fog. Starting Olafur Eliasson poses at the installation ‘Your Spiral View’ as part of the exhibition Olafur Eliasson: natural overlap between
later this month, visitors can ‘In real life’ at the Tate Modern Gallery in London, Tuesday, July 9, 2019. art and activism. The Tate
help construct a giant city Associated Press exhibition ends with a room
out of Lego in Tate’s vast art. in public spaces in streets kind, human activities — showcasing work he has
Turbine Hall. “How do I touch what is of London, Paris and Co- and nature is out there. It’s done that goes beyond art
For Eliasson, art is interac- normally considered un- penhagen. The Tate show a wilderness, it’s something into architecture, design
tive. He wants visitors to touchable, like the air? includes a series of photos untouched,” Eliasson told — he co-designed a solar
“get a sense that the show How do I take something of Icelandic glaciers taken The Associated Press. lamp that has been distrib-
is really there because that I don’t understand — in 1999. Eliasson plans to go Now he says he realizes uted in its thousands— and
(they) looked at it, and not data, glaciers — and make back this summer and pho- “there is nothing that has even food. One of the Tate
the other way around.” it tangible?” tograph them again, and not been touched” by hu- cafes is serving organic,
“When you look at that Eliasson’s fascination with the two sets will be hung man activity. vegetarian food modelled
rainbow, is it in fact you nature gives his work a side by side to illustrate “Not even the atmosphere, on that served to staff in Eli-
consuming the colors, or is powerful ecological mes- how human-driven climate not even the air that we asson’s Berlin studio.
it you producing the col- sage that has grown more change is altering the land- breathe, is just to be taken The exhibition, which opens
ors?” he said Tuesday. urgent with time. scape. for granted as something Thursday and runs to Jan. 5,
The 52-year-old artist has al- In the past, he has tried to “When I was a child, I spent natural. It’s a cultural prod- is titled “Olafur Eliasson: In
ways loved the challenge make climate change vis- a lot of time in Iceland, in uct. It’s a product of our so- Real Life.” As the artist sees
of using unexpected and ceral by bringing chunks of nature, and I thought cul- ciety.” it, art and life are one and
intangible materials in his Greenland glacier to melt ture is over here — human- Climate change has also the same.q

Don Was leads Detroit revue celebrating Motown milestone

By JEFF KAROUB the Detroit Institute of Arts the Funk Brothers, guitarist
Associated Press aims to celebrate the re- Dennis Coffey, and Was is
DETROIT (AP) — Don Was cord company founded bringing along members of
has performed with or pro- in Detroit 60 years ago his own genre-embracing,
duced many musical leg- and includes classic Mo- born-in-Detroit band, Was
ends, including Bob Dylan, town artists Martha Reeves, (Not Was). The revue that’s
Mavis Staples, the Rolling Carolyn Crawford and the part of the 27th annual
Stones and Ringo Starr. Velvelettes. Concert of Colors — a free,
But the Detroit-raised sonic “As time goes by, I appre- multi-day festival showcas-
craftsman feels like an ap- ciate those records more ing Detroit’s musical and
prentice again when it and more, and as I get ethnic diversity — often
comes to diving into the deeper into the nuances of features Motown songs. But
musicianship of the “Mo- playing bass, James Jam- Was says he likes “the uni-
town Sound.” erson blows me away more fied musical theme running
The bassist, Grammy-win- than ever now,” Was said through” the revue and the
ning producer and presi- by phone from his Southern way the musicians are ap-
dent of the Blue Note jazz California office. “I started proaching and interpreting
label is particularly en- writing out the charts for the classics. He’s not giving
thralled with the bass-play- what we’re doing, and away the setlist but prom-
ing of late Motown “Funk he’s an absolute genius. ises well-known, grooving
Brother” James Jamerson There was no one who ever tunes from the era. So one
as Was prepares for his In a Feb. 8, 2010 file photo, Ringo Starr, left, embraces fellow played that way before.” might experience figura-
next big gig: the 12th Don musician Don Was during a ceremony to award Starr the 2,401st Helping to capture some tive if not literal “Dancing
Was Detroit All-Star Revue. star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. of that Motown house in the Street” when Reeves
The concert on July 13 at Associated Press band magic is another of takes the stage. q