Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
Olafur Eliasson, IS
Olafur Eliasson, Show me, by means of sudden intuitive realization, your perception of the presence, 1996. Photo © Manifesta 1 / Jannes Linders.
Working with architect Einar Thorsteinn, the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson produced a ready-made dome made of white pentagonal and hexagonal fibreglass panels, originally designed for the exploitation of geothermal energy in Iceland. Inside the dome a fountain pumping jets of water was rhythmically lit by a stroboscope from the former German Democratic Republic, so that the bursts of water appeared to freeze in ever-changing formations.