Room for one colour (1997)

Olafur Eliasson ‘Room for one colour’ (1997). Monofrequency lights. Dimensions variable, site specific. Installation view: Malmö Konsthall, Sweden, 2005. Photo: Jens Ziehe, courtesy the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York © 1997 Olafur Eliasson

While the title may evoke the monochrome, Eliasson’s ‘Room for one colour’ (1997) recognises the materiality of light; the physical impression that it has on oneself and the environment.

Entering the empty gallery space, environment may not be the first thought that springs to mind. However through the artificial glow of halogen lights, ‘Room for one colour’ (1997) is able to produce a physical space that is dominated by chromatic density and yet spills beyond the gallery.

The experience of viewing this installation can be almost vertiginous, as the participant must negotiate the installation as an overwhelming amount of light. Looking at other people or objects in the room, the viewer can only see them as yellow and in shades of grey, as their perceptual range is physically limited by the yellow light.

The space is indeed a room for one colour, but once the participant looks beyond the density of the installation, a secondary phenomenon illustrates the first. When the viewer looks through the space into the gallery at large, it exists in a glow of deep purple. This residual afterimage extends beyond the yellow-drenched room, involving the entire exhibition and inviting the viewer to reconsider how colour functions in a wider field.

Staring at the sun, one sees both the brilliantly glowing start as well as the black orb that remains imprinted on our eyes and our mind.