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Olafur Eliasson: New Work was on view at The Aldrich in spring 2000. Born in Copenhagen in 1967 and now resident in Berlin, Eliasson's first major U.S. survey will be seen at San Francisco MoMA in October 2007, The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1in April 2008, and then the Dallas Museum of Art. He is best known for the multimedia installations in which he uses light, colored foils, water, and other natural materials to create magical environments that the viewer enters and moves through.While his installations foster an emotional response, the photographs document spectacular sights unemotionally, as if for the purposes of study.  Eliasson seems to be searching the landscape for the secrets to inspiring awe, information that could be useful in creating his installations.  He also knows that the way in which we view the landscape, and not just the landscape itself, is partly or mostly responsible for that sensation.  To some extent, we all have a romantic relationship to the landscape that is a learned response.  We see what we expect to see, want to see, and are used to seeing, taking the visual information for granted.  We sometimes forget that the act of seeing is encumbered.  Eliasson serves to reinvigorate our viewing and have us experience wonder via less conventional means.