Olafur Eliasson; Tate Modern, August 2019; 7/10

The first thing to do if you want to enjoy this show is to take along some noise cancelling headphones as the “house of mirrors” nature of Eliasson’s work means that to really enjoy them you need to be deaf to the screams of babies and the babble of talk. At one point a toddler tried to break through this wall of plastic, its mother found this terrifically funny.

The show starts off weakly thus the first rooms is reminiscent of a sort of middling quality junk shop.

Next there are some early works including a three wave machines that interested absolutely no-one.

Alongside the dull physics experiments was a wall of lichen of the dullest green you could imagine. In addition, you wonder how this apparently environmentally conscious artist felt he could make work from lichen.

After that things improved - I liked the circle illusion.  This is where half a rubber circle and a mirrored ceiling becomes a full circle.

Room for squealing, ok this is poor stuff.

One exceptional experience is Big Bang Fountain 2014.  This is composed of a repeated eruption of water lit by a flash in a blacked out room - extraordinary although it makes you feel a bit queasy. It says “No Photos” so in order to enjoy it you need to wait until your heart has slowed after you have reprimanded those who cannot read.

This is the photo in the catalogue, the light in the real thing is lightning white - much more dramatic.

There are some things in the show that look like art as we know it Jim.  So there are some circular pieces made by glacial ice melting over washes of watercolour.  Then there is the negative casting of a block of ice.  I liked these as, whilst they are works made by chance, they are beautiful.

This kaleidoscope was interesting:

This similar and more ambitious piece flops even if it photographs marvellously.

I have left the best until last: The Corridor of Fog which is quite a thing. In one section the light is yellow and if you close your eyes you see blue - a unique experience.  I liked this so much I went twice!