Olafur Eliasson Floods Beyeler Foundation with Life Installation

Olafur Eliasson's new installation 'Life' at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, near Basel, involves flooding several galleries with bright green water dyed with uranine, a substance used to map ocean currents. The floors were removed and waterproofed, and glass walls facing the lily pond were temporarily taken out in collaboration with architect Renzo Piano. Aquatic plants selected by landscape architect Günther Vogt grow in the water, and insects and other creatures freely enter the space at night. The exhibition draws on Anna L. Tsing's 'The Mushroom at the End of the World' and Emanuele Coccia's 'La vita delle piante'. Concurrently, director Samuel Keller reinstalled the permanent collection across twelve rooms, featuring works by Maurizio Cattelan, Félix González-Torres, Constantin Brâncuși, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Claude Monet, Roni Horn, Tacita Dean, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Sigmar Polke, and Wolfgang Tillmans. On June 2, cantonal approval was granted for three new buildings designed by Peter Zumthor in the adjacent park, with construction starting at the end of summer. The exhibition runs until July 18, 2021.