Reversed waterfall

Olafur Eliasson’s Reversed waterfall is one of the artist’s first works about waterfalls, conceived initially for an indoor presentation in a gallery. In contrast to the public projects he developed over the next two decades (most prominently in New York in 2008 and London in 2019), Reversed waterfall shoots jets of water upward, from basin to basin, reversing the usual gravitational flow.

In Reversed waterfall, a rough four-tiered scaffolding placed in a pool of shallow water supports four rectangular metal basins, one on each level. Through a system of pumps, the water sprays wildly, unrestricted to the basins and pool, and also dampens the immediate surroundings. The sound of splashing water is audible over the murmuring of the electric pumps and the air releases a subtle sensation of moisture. Eliasson’s interest in waterfalls and the multisensory perceptual experiences they afford connects to his interrogations of subjectivity (inside) in relation to so-called objectivity (outside). Ecological vision, a term coined by the psychologists Eleanor and James Gibson, offers a more complex account of the perceptual process, one that explores the environment not only with the eyes but with “the eyes-in-the-head-on-the-body-resting-onthe-ground.” It calls attention to the intricate interrelations between visuality, mobility, and sensations and the work performed by everchanging ecological processes.

(Text written by TBA21 and used as short text in the booklet of the exhibition "Remedios", C3A, Córdoba, 2023)