Flooded, Livestreamed, Transformed: Olafur Eliasson and the Post-Pandemic Museum

Celina F. Lage

doi:10.54254/2753-7064/2025.BJ29385

Communications in Humanities ResearchOpen access

Flooded, Livestreamed, Transformed: Olafur Eliasson and the Post-Pandemic Museum

Research Article

Open Access

Flooded, Livestreamed, Transformed: Olafur Eliasson and the Post-Pandemic Museum

Celina F. Lage ^1*

¹ UEMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

^*Corresponding author: celinalage@gmail.com

Published on 11 November 2025

CHR Vol.96

ISSN (Print): 2753-7072

ISSN (Online): 2753-7064

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-523-3

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-524-0

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Abstract

This article examines Life, an art exhibition by Olafur Eliasson, as a case study for rethinking the museum in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on critical perspectives from Paul Valéry, Theodor W. Adorno, Douglas Crimp, and Brian O’Doherty, the essay analyzes how Eliasson’s intervention suspends and reconfigures dominant regimes of exhibition, from the encyclopedic accumulation of objects to the modernist “white cube”, by materially flooding the institution, removing architectural boundaries, and enabling new sensory interfaces. The analysis also considers the role of live-stream technologies, which multiply mediated standpoints and simulate non-human perspectives, thereby challenging anthropocentric assumptions of spectatorship. Engaging Natasha Myers’s notion of the “Planthroposcene,” the essay situates Life not as a definitive ecological paradigm but as a performative experiment in plant-human cohabitation under curatorial and technological mediation. Combining critical theory with close description of the work’s material and institutional conditions, the article argues that Life anticipates a post-pandemic museum that is porous, ecological, and in continuous transformation.

Keywords:

Olafur Eliasson, contemporary art, museum, technology, nature

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References

[1]. Valéry, Paul. (1960). The Problem of Museums. In The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, Vol. 12: Degas, Manet, Morisot, edited by Jackson Mathews, 202–207. Pantheon Books.

[2]. Adorno, Theodor W. (1967). Valéry Proust Museum. In Prisms, translated by Samuel and Shierry Weber, 173–186. MIT Press.

[3]. Crimp, Douglas. (1993) [1980]. On the Museum’s Ruins. First published in October 13 (1980). MIT Press.

[4]. O’Doherty, Brian. (1999). Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Expanded edition. University of California Press.

[5]. Eliasson, Olafur. (2021). Life at the Fondation Beyeler. Apollo Magazine. https: //www.apollo-magazine.com/olafur-eliasson-life-fondation-beyeler.

[6]. Eliasson Olafur. (2025, september, 1st) https: //olafureliasson.net/exhibition/life-2021.

[7]. Myers, Natasha. (2017). From the Anthropocene to the Planthroposcene: Designing Gardens for Plant/People Involution. History and Anthropology 28 (3), 297–301. https: //doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2017.1289934.

References

[1]. Valéry, Paul. (1960). The Problem of Museums. In The Collected Works of Paul Valéry, Vol. 12: Degas, Manet, Morisot, edited by Jackson Mathews, 202–207. Pantheon Books.

[2]. Adorno, Theodor W. (1967). Valéry Proust Museum. In Prisms, translated by Samuel and Shierry Weber, 173–186. MIT Press.

[3]. Crimp, Douglas. (1993) [1980]. On the Museum’s Ruins. First published in October 13 (1980). MIT Press.

[4]. O’Doherty, Brian. (1999). Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Expanded edition. University of California Press.

[5]. Eliasson, Olafur. (2021). Life at the Fondation Beyeler. Apollo Magazine. https: //www.apollo-magazine.com/olafur-eliasson-life-fondation-beyeler.

[6]. Eliasson Olafur. (2025, september, 1st) https: //olafureliasson.net/exhibition/life-2021.

Cite this article

Lage,C.F. (2025). Flooded, Livestreamed, Transformed: Olafur Eliasson and the Post-Pandemic Museum. Communications in Humanities Research,96,53-58.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICADSS 2025 Symposium: Consciousness and Cognition in Language Acquisition and Literary Interpretation

ISBN: 978-1-80590-523-3(Print) / 978-1-80590-524-0(Online)

Editor: Yanhua Qin

Conference website: https://2025.icadss.org/Beijing.html

Conference date: 20 October 2025

Series: Communications in Humanities Research

Volume number: Vol.96

ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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