Rainbow assembly

A circular curtain of mist inside a darkened space is illuminated from within by a ring of spotlights that cause shimmering rainbows to appear on the circle’s inward-facing side. The shimmering colours visible in the curtain of softly falling water are not present in the mist itself, but are seen there when rays of light are refracted and reflected by the droplets of water and meet a viewer’s eye at a particular angle. The work is thus incomplete until someone comes along to close the circuit by moving into a position from which the colours can be seen. Eliasson’s works depend on the viewer’s engagement; the artist makes frequently use of phenomena like reflections and afterimages that are absent in the artworks themselves but produced when the artwork is viewed. This work is an evolution of one of Eliasson’s most important early works: Beauty, from 1993.