A dark, porous stone hangs from a thin black cord in front of a large concave mirrored disc, whose rippled metallic surface reflects distorted light and crater-like textures, with the disc held by small metal clips and suspended from a vertical metal bracket on a plain white wall.

Parabolic planet 2010

Here a fragment of Icelandic lava rock rotates, suspended in front of a concave mirror. It is lit from behind with golden light, as if illuminated by an invisible sun. The surface of the rock is magnified as it circles slowly, like a small fragile planet – perhaps Earth – in perpetual motion.

A parabola is a mathematical curve. Parabolic mirrors are used in car headlights, telescopes and satellite dishes to focus light, sound or radio waves. A story arc might also be parabolic – like a parable that not only reads as a narrative but also holds a deep symbolism open to interpretation.

– Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow

Low/no vision audio description

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Mounted on the wall at about eye level, this compact work measures 60 centimetres high, 45 centimetres wide and 25 centimetres deep. At its centre, a dark volcanic stone hangs suspended on a fine support. Irregular in shape, the stone has a rough, porous surface with jagged edges and small cavities that catch the light.

Behind the stone is a circular concave mirror, its reflective surface curving inward like the inside of a shallow bowl. A small LED light illuminates the side of the stone that faces the mirror, making its pitted textures glow and shadows deepen. The stone turns slowly on its axis, powered by a motor concealed behind the mirror.

As the stone rotates, its image in the mirror expands and shifts. The concave surface magnifies and distorts the reflection, transforming the hand-sized rock into the illusion of a vast sphere. The play of light and motion makes the reflection appear planetary, its surface resembling craters, ridges and voids.

The work brings together raw natural material and precise optical design, where stillness and slow rotation create a quiet shift in scale and perception. Here, a handheld stone becomes a celestial body, reflected back as something both familiar and infinite.

– QAGOMA

A close-up shows the underside of a dark, porous rock with clustered pits, ridges and small cavities, set against a blurred background of pale, uneven surfaces and soft reflected light.

A dark, irregular rock with porous cavities and rough ridges hangs on a thin black cord against a blurred backdrop of pale, uneven surfaces and shadowed hollows.

Room: ‘Iceland’

Olafur Eliasson returns regularly to Iceland. Although now based in Berlin, he was born in Copenhagen to Icelandic parents. As a child, he would spend summers with his grandparents near Reykjavík. Moving between these different landscapes has shaped his artistic practice in profound ways. Experiencing such distinct ways of life, qualities of place and phenomena of light, was critical in shaping his focus on how we perceive and understand the world. Moving from place to place, this effect is heightened: ‘When I looked at a shadow or at melting ice, I wanted to document something I could see, but others might not register,’ he says. ‘For my Icelandic family and friends there was no need to tell a story they already knew.’

Eliasson pays close attention to his surroundings. In his photographs, we see an alertness to different qualities of light and landscape, time and its rhythms. We also see a focus on how people orient themselves and adapt to the country’s harsh climate. The Hekla twilight series 2006 captures subtle changes of light and colour as dusk falls over the snow-covered mountain. We explore a landscape of rivers shaped by glacial meltwater, snow-capped plateaus and tumbling waterfalls through Eliasson’s eyes and camera lens. A rainbow appears cradled by the landscape itself at the base of a waterfall, then is painstakingly recreated in thin veils of watercolour. From a small piece of Icelandic lava rock, Eliasson constructs a model planet, lit by a hidden sun.

– Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow

Parabolic planet 2010

Room: ‘Iceland’

Other works from ‘Iceland’:

Room: ‘Iceland’

Other works from ‘Iceland’: