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The blind pavilion, 2003 - Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing 2018 - Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The blind pavilion, 2003
Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing 2018
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing 2018 - Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The blind pavilion, 2003
Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing 2018
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003 - Photo: Thilo Frank / Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003
Photo: Thilo Frank / Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson / Thilo Frank
The blind pavilion, 2003
Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson / Thilo Frank
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003 - Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003
Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003
Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003 - Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003
Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003
Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003 - Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003
Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003
Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Danish Pavilion, 50th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003 - Photo: Giorgio Boato
The blind pavilion, 2003
Danish Pavilion, 50th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003
Photo: Giorgio Boato
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, 2012 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, 2012
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, 2014 - Photo: Anders Hellsten Nissen / Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, 2014
Photo: Anders Hellsten Nissen / Studio Olafur Eliasson
Spread from Olafur Eliasson: Minding the World, edited by Caroline Eggel / Studio Olafur Eliasson and Gitte Ørskou, Ostfildern-Ruit 2004
Spread from Olafur Eliasson: Minding the World, edited by Caroline Eggel / Studio Olafur Eliasson and Gitte Ørskou, Ostfildern-Ruit 2004
Model for The blind pavilion, 2003 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
Model for The blind pavilion, 2003
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
Model for The blind pavilion, 2003 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
Model for The blind pavilion, 2003
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
Inside the Spectacle
Inside the Spectacle
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003 - Photo: Thilo Frank / Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003
Photo: Thilo Frank / Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Danish Pavilion, 50th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003 - Photo: Giorgio Boato
The blind pavilion, 2003
Danish Pavilion, 50th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 2003
Photo: Giorgio Boato
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003 - Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003
Videy Island, Iceland, 2005 – 2003
Photo: Fridrik Orn
The blind pavilion, 2003 - Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003 - Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
The blind pavilion, 2003
Pfaueninsel, Berlin, 2010 – 2003
Photo: Studio Olafur Eliasson
Filmed on the Pfuaeninsel (Peacock Island), on the outskirts of Berlin, in 2010, ‘The blind pavilion’ is made of two concentric steel framework structures glazed with angular panes of clear and black glass. The structure was originally exhibited at the 50th Venice Biennale, 2003, on the roof of the Danish Pavilion; later it was among the works that extended Eliasson’s exhibition ‘Innen Stadt Aussen’, 2010, outside the walls of Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau – it was placed in a nineteenth-century royal park. ‘The blind pavilion’ has its permanent home at the Red Brick Art Museum in Beijing.
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Two concentric steel framework structures, glazed with angular panes of clear and black glass, form The blind pavilion. Situated outdoors on a wooden platform, the work is approached via a wooden walkway. Moving between the pavilion’s inner and outer layers, visitors encounter ghostly echoes of themselves in the glass, while glimpses of the surrounding world are framed in the clear sections or reflected and partially obscured by the black glass. Although the pattern seems haphazard from the outside, at the very centre of the work the black glass panels line up so that the view out of the pavilion into the world beyond is obstructed.
The blind pavilion was first exhibited on the roof of the Danish Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, in 2003, where it formed an integral part of Eliasson’s overall pavilion concept, also titled The blind pavilion. The presentation in Venice focused on artworks dealing with various forms of looking in and looking out, and included another pavilion work, La situazione antispettiva. The blind pavilion was later exhibited on a hilltop on Videy Island, Iceland, and installed for the exhibition Innen Stadt Aussen (Inner city out), 2010, on the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island), in Berlin.