A mirror-clad wall divides two spaces of the museum from one another. The wall is composed of stackable, stainless-steel cubic modules that were developed as part of ongoing research at Studio Olafur Eliasson into complex geometry and space-filling modules. Diamond-shaped mirror panels clad the exterior of the structure while leaving gaps between the modules. Through the gaps, viewers can see into the wall, where further mirrors create complex arrangements of nested triangular reflections. The repeating patterns blur the distinctions between inside and out, what is in front of the wall and what is behind it, and between viewer and object, exploring themes of disorientation, multiple reflections, and spatial perception.
Research:
The wall uses stackable cubic modules (stainless steel) that fill space in a regular 3D grid. Each module is clad with diamond-shaped mirror panels; the diamond angle and gap between panels were set so that sight lines through the gaps hit internal mirrors and produce nested triangular reflection patterns. The analysis covered which space-filling and modular layouts yield stable stacking and which panel geometries produce the desired multiplicity of reflections without blind spots.
Photography: Studio Olafur Elíasson, Hyunsoo Kim, Anders Sune Berg, Kayhan Kaygusuz
https://olafureliasson.net/artwork/less-ego-wall-2015/
