Olafur Eliasson: Take Your Time. Printed Matter

Like the sensory epiphanies that his artwork evokes, Olafur Eliasson’s latest publication, Take Your Time vol. 2: Printed Matter sheds new light on the relationship between an exhibition and publication; artwork and documentation.

The book was commissioned on the occasion of the exhibition Mediating Experience: Olafur Eliasson’s books. Realised by the artist and curator Luca Cerizza, the publication is less documentation of a specific exhibition and more an insight into the artist’s inspiration. Over 144 pages, Eliasson has painstakingly photographed, manipulated and re-presented his personal library including every book written about, and by, himself.

While the book covers all of the artist’s major projects, it’s really an artwork in itself; an exercise in archiving, collecting and documenting. Equally, it’s a performative gesture from Eliasson that questions how an exhibition could ever be summarised by a single, authored document.