Melrose Wing of International Art: Plain English Tour
Work 11 of 17

Olafur was born in 1967 in Denmark.

He made this sculpture in 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

He makes sculptures that test people’s senses and their understanding.

To do this, in his works he often uses:

- light

- glass

- mirrors

- metal.

Olafur’s works shows how light can trick people.

This sculpture is made up of 217 glass balls.

They are all different sizes –

from small ones you can hold in your hand

to large ones like a basketball.

Part of each ball has been made mirror-like,

then the back of the ball has been painted black.

From far away, this sculpture looks like a group of cloudy black balls.

Up close, the glass balls mirror the person who is looking at them,

and the room around them.

The mirror-like glass makes this work look light and airy, but the sculpture is very heavy.

The sculpture’s title is Dark matter collective.

This refers to the parts of the Universe we cannot see.

This sculpture makes people think about the world around them.