Culture / Art Republik

Olafur Eliasson Reveals Versailles Waterfall

The artist finally completes his special project for the Palace of Versailles

Jun 08, 2016 | By Staff Writer

The artist/architect Olafur Eliassonā€™s project to build a massive waterfall within the Palace of Versailles has finally borne fruit. The project was influenced by original plans for an enormous fountain drawn up by Louis XIVā€™s architect but never realized. Now if all this piques your interest and youā€™re wondering exactly how high the waterfall is ā€“ good luck in finding out, because Eliassonā€™s not telling. The only comment he made to reporters on Monday was that ā€œThe height is perfectā€.

Still, it is quite an impressive achievement because of how the Versailles waterfall (as fountainĀ is being called) isĀ structured ā€“ as a latticework tower hidden behind the flow of water gushing at the top so that the water seems almost like itā€™s appearing in midair. Eliassonā€™s reason for refusing to reveal the height was because he wanted ā€œto leave it to the public to make up their minds how high is highā€ and ā€œto resist the idea that we have always to quantify the unquantifiableā€. Beyond that, Eliasson also created a few other installations aimed atĀ eschewing visual perception while drawing attention at the same time, strewn all about the garden.

One of these other installations is the ā€œFog Assemblyā€ which forms as an ā€˜enchanted misty ringā€™ in one of the groves where visitors are encouraged to ā€œlose themselvesā€. Another is a work created in the Colonnade Grove at Versailles from dust left behind by a melting Greenland glacier. He used the glacier in an installation he made for the COP21 climate change conference in Paris late last year.

Eliassonā€™s installations will be on show until October 30.

This story was written in-house, based on an AFP report and an image from the AFP.Ā 


 
Back to top