• circle
• ellipse
• moiré effect
• movement
• optical illusion
• you only see things when you move

Upon entering the courtyard of the palazzo, visitors encounter a large elliptical screen hanging above them. The screen, which appears to flicker and change as visitors move around the courtyard, presents a moiré pattern. This effect occurs wherever two or more similar patterns are overlaid and clash. It is familiar as an artifact in print and on screen, and, in the physical world, in meshes, fences, and facades. As visitors move about, the pattern appears to change with their shifting perspectives, encouraging them to move around even more. As in Eliasson’s Beauty (1993), the work is a subjective and individual experience for everyone.

Similarly, the elliptical screen also changes according to the viewer’s perspective. From particular vantage points, at either end of the courtyard, the screen appears circular. As soon as visitors move left or right, forward or backward, the illusion collapses and the elliptical shape becomes evident. The visual ambiguity of the ellipse has fascinated Eliasson for decades: an ellipse appears to be a foreshortened circle from certain perspectives; it is only through contextual clues and motion that it reveals its actual shape.