Olafur Eliasson - Notion motion 2016

Light and water

For Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Eliasson has developed a large installation in which waves of light are visualized in a monumental way by a continuous interplay between light and water.

Eliasson plays with the concept that a conscious perception carries within it the potential for change. Many of his installations are based on the question: Where in society can we still use our senses to define our surroundings, instead of just being defined by them? The fact that, in Eliasson’s work, a direct relationship emerges between the individual / the visitor and his surroundings, means that the former becomes conscious of the possibilities for changing those surroundings. The surroundings do not play a central part, the individual does.

‘Physical involvement is a thought process too, just as the thought process is related to the physical’

Olafur Eliasson

From the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

‘Notion motion’ is one in a series of unforgettable installations made especially for Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s Bodon Gallery. It follows Ernesto Neto’s‘Celula Nave’ and Carsten Höller’s ‘Divided Divided’.

It is not the first time that ‘Notion motion’ has been shown. It is part of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s permanent collection and was gifted to the museum in 2005 by the Han Nefkens Foundation, set up by the writer and collector, Han Nefkens. This summer everyone will get their first chance – or perhaps another chance – to be immersed in this fantastic installation.