6 min read1 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, The Northern Fjallabak Route, Iceland, 1998
Introduction
Next March, just like any other month of March, the Chicago Plumbers will dye the city’s river1 green. They have been doing this since 1962, in loving memory of St. Patrick, celebrating an icon in the history of Ireland and Chicago. Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson2 mounted another similar project, but with a whole different thing in mind.
The Green River Series
For this monochromatic intervention, Olafur and his assistant used Uranine, a non-toxic, water-soluble dye, to test ocean3 currents. Eliasson started this project in 1996 when he was living in the studio, looking at a river.
This art project would eventually turn six different rivers green, including the ones in Tokyo4, Los Angeles5, Bremen, and Stockholm6. The visual effects of the dyed river changed from city to city. It was very different in Los Angeles, where concrete bridges mostly obstructed views of the river. People hardly noticed the change.
2 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Bremen, Germany, 1998, photo: Helmut Wieben3 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Los Angeles, 1999
Locations
City
Year
Northern Fjallabak Route, Iceland
1998
Moss, Norway
1998
Bremen, Germany,
1998
Los Angeles, US
1999
Stockholm, Sweden
2000
Tokyo, Japan
2001
Riehen, Switzerland
2021
The meaning of the project
The hardest bit of this practice is that it was unannounced and hence ended up sparking a hot debate in almost every locale. Though Eliasson had one only goal in mind: He wanted to bring viewers unwittingly into a new relationship with the environment and the surrounding.
As explained in the book Chromaphilia: The story of Color in Art by Stella Paul, the artist used color to draw viewers unconsciously into a new relationship with the surrounding. Eliasson notes that most individuals are entirely disconnected from their environments, especially those in the urban space.
4 Olafur Eliasson – The green river series, 1998, The Menil Collection, Houston, 2004, photo: Oren Slor
The role of the audience
With each installation, public involvement is a central piece that unfolded differently. Paul writes in Chromaphilia that observing marvels in a whole changing world is not the same as perceiving art in a prescribed setting, such as museums or art galleries.
This was to describe how Eliasson wanted to capture the entire difference in a unique way, which would later bring in new viewers unfamiliar with arts-specific contexts and subtexts.
5 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, The Northern Fjallabak Route, Iceland, 1998
Green River, Stockholm, 2000
A good example of this phenomenon is downtown Stockholm. According to Olafur, downtown Stockholm is so unassailable and sublime in a way that it looks like an artificial display. The city river seems like a picture-postcard perfect.
The locals don’t regard the river as a flowing, dynamic natural force. Olafur Eliasson set out to make Stockholmers take notice and, at the same time, make the river present again, using intense green dye.
6 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Stockholm, 20007 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Stockholm, 2000
Reactions
When Olafur in Stockholm implemented the whole idea, newspapers featured the intensely changed rivers on front pages. The majority of the media houses featured the photos and, at the same time, explained the color change.
loUnknowingly, reporters blamed leaking fluid from a government heating system. They assured the public there was nothing to worry about, which in this context was true. The green in the water7 had everything to do with art and nothing to do with leaks.
In Stockholm, Sweden, the effect was felt because the river flows through the city. For this reason, the pedestrians were alarmed by the color. They were convinced that the city’s water was tainted. Most of the city dwellers were overwhelmed by panic, and for this reason, Eliasson abandoned these guerilla-art interventions8 in 2001.
The radical visual effects of the dyed water lasted only for hours, and after the city was back to work, the majority of them understood the whole idea. It helped some to reconnect with nature9 and the urban spaces they are living in.
8 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Stockholm, 20009 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Stockholm, 2000
Analysis
Eliasson said that the city was paused for some time but later became active again. According to him, the green in the water was not a big deal; the big deal was how the water looked before and after. Understanding the past and the future of something needs some time. The vehicle for this thinking was the green color.
Eliasson sought to inspire the connection and the relationship between participants and an irrelevant space. The green river sought to bring back the lost growly of rivers and, at the same time, bring back the connection with the city residents.
It is very unusual to see how the residents reacted to the green river and how they talked about it. It is also an excellent observance to see how they feel about the connection with the river and their natural surroundings.
Green River, Tokyo, 2001
10 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Tokyo, 200111 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Tokyo, 200112 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Tokyo, 200113 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Tokyo, 200114 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Tokyo, 2001
1 min 24 sec
Green River, Norway, 1998
15 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Moss, Norway, 199816 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Moss, Norway, 199817 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Moss, Norway, 199818 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Moss, Norway, 1998
Green River, Los Angeles, 1999
19 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Los Angeles, 199920 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Los Angeles, 1999
Green River, Bremen, 1998
21 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Bremen, Germany, 1998, photo: Helmut Wieben22 Olafur Eliasson – Green river, 1998, uranine, water, Bremen, Germany, 1998, photo: Helmut Wieben
In 2014, Eliasson fabricated a river to intervene with the space inside a museum, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. The act blurred the boundary between the natural world and the manufactured one. His work at the museum transformed the museum’s gallery space into a rocky and rugged landscape of the Danish coast.
It was an exhibition of a winding river that was flowing through the galleries. The visitors were free to choose their path as they explored the immerse environment. Riverbed10 eschewed the behavioral and intellectual conversations associated with the museum by inviting visitors to take control of their experiences.
26 Olafur Eliasson – Riverbed, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, 2014-2015
In yet another installation, Mediated Motion11, Eliasson installed a pond with duckweed floating on its surface in a museum. This work, too, was created to explore the relationship between the audience and nature.
27 Olafur Eliasson – The mediated motion, 2001, Kunsthaus Bregenz
All images: Olafur Eliasson Studio unless otherwise noted.
Laurenz Berges' CloppenburgPhoto documentation (1989–1990)55 km away
