Vision and legacy, Project for the exhibition "inside - outside"
24th June – 10th July 2005 Schloss Plüschow, Germany
Since 1983, the artist Udo Rathke has created a centre for art and artists at Schloss Plüschow, a manor house situated in a village in Mecklenburg. In his drawings exhibited at Schloss Plüschow under the title 'Vision und Erbe', Olafur Gislason explores the question of how the people... more...

Structural Change, Project for the exhibition "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
30th April - 26th June 2005, Cuxhaven, Germany
'Strukturwandel' consisted of several mutually referential parts: first, Olafur Gislason conducted interviews with shrimp fishermen, captains of deep-sea fishing boats, a fish dealer and the heads of the largest fishing companies. The texts, combined into a monologue, were spoken... more...

Communities, Sound installation at the Krefelder Neumarkt
5th July– 10th Juli 2004, Krefeld, Germany
In preparation for the project 'Gemeinschaften', Olafur Gislason conducted interviews with 15 young people from various Krefeld neighbourhoods. Gislason chose passages from the recorded interviews, in which the youths spoke about friendships, group formation and demarcation, and... more...

Theater Real , A project for Wandsbeker Chaussee as part of the Hamburg cultural authority's programme 'Art in Public Space'
29th January - 28th February 2004, Hamburg, Germany
For decades now, shopping centres and wholesale chains have been inexorably displacing small businesses on the periphery, and it was against this background that Olafur Gislason set out to show the situation... more...

Global Marriages , Project for the exhibition "Migration"
29th June - 2nd November 2003, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
The theme of the installation 'Global Marriages' is the universal problem of migration. In the museum, Olafur Gislason set up a stage for two live trees. Texts based on interviews with a white South African man and a black woman from the Bahamas were read aloud by actors. more...

Golden Bamboo, Project for the exhibition "Bi Fokal"
24th August – 22nd September 2002, Dresden, Germany
Olafur Gislason's 'Goldener Bambus' project for the exhibition 'Bi Fokal' addresses the relationship between the German Democratic Republic and its North Vietnamese allies. In the middle of a Socialist-era housing estate in Dresden lies the Chinese restaurant Goldener Bambus. more...

Dreaming in Hannover, Interventions 28
8 May - 21 July 2002, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany
In his contribution to the “Interventions“ exhibition, Gislason spoke to three non- Europeans living in Hanover, namely Yasin Baban (an Iraqi Kurd), Abdou Karim Sané (Senegal) and Teresa Fantasny (Philippines).The results of the conversations... more...

Shallow Roots , „CUDI/Centre for Urbanitet, Dialog og Information“
23 May– 30 June 2001, Vollsmose, Odense, Denmark
This project involved digging a cave below a birch tree in a nondescript green space in Vollsmose, a housing development built in the seventies on the outskirts of Odense.
Furnished with steps, the cave revealed to visitors a part of the tree that usually remains hidden from sight,... more...

Pure Anxiety, Contribution to the „Allmenningen“
7 September – 3 December 2000, Bergen, Norway
The artists participating in the “Allmenningen“ project were invited to regard the entire city of Bergen as their exhibition area.
Gislason chose a centre organised by people suffering from anxiety and depression. In his contribution... more...

From the Nursery 2, „Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art 2000“
20 May– 2 July 2000, Moss, Norway
In his contribution to the “Momentum“ exhibition, Gislason built a rectangular yellow pavilion in a wooded area of a park, setting up the four sides around small trees, bushes and plants...
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From the Nursery 1, Contribution to the „Vorkultur“
31 March – 30 April 2000, KX Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
What sort of things scare children when they go to bed? Gislason spoke to four children about their fears before falling asleep, and erected an archetypal children's bedroom in which he hung typescripts of the conversations.
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Loneliness and Security, „Nur Wasser lässt sich leichter schneiden“
20 March – 5 May 1999, Hamburg-Oevelgönne, Germany
The exhibition project “Nur Wasser lässt sich leichter schneiden“(Only water can be cut more easily) was held in Oevelgönne, a district of Hamburg marked by particularly evident social extremes. The wealthy Augustinum Foundation Retirement Home,... more...

Seven Messengers, Contribution to the exhibition „Holding still “
31.10 – 6.12.1998, Künstlerwerkstatt Lothringer Straße, Munich, Germany
On a walk through the Haidhausen district of Munich, Gislason collected all kinds of notices stuck to walls, etc. by individuals, including a large number of circulars on new and unusual approaches to life. Gislason selected six such notices and called up the... more...

Direct Redesign, „Places in Gothenburg“
16 May– 6 September 1998, Göteburg, Schweden
In this project, Gislason invited eight Gothenburg residents to make suggestions for changes in the area around Gustav Adolfs Torg, an old square at the heart of the Swedish city. He sat down with the
participants to examine their suggestions... more...

Share and Exchange , Exhibition at Gallery I8
15 January – 15 February 1998, Reykjavik, Iceland
In October 1997, Gislason approached various large production companies in
Reykjavik and asked them to “lend“ him one of their workers. Six companies agreed. Five men and one woman came to his studio, and for three fully paid days worked with the artist... more...

Bohemian Week , “D.I.Y. – Mapping & Instruction“
25 September – 26 October, 1997, Vienna, Austria
The project mainly consisted of mailing leaflets to 300 simple restaurants (Beisl) asking them to participate in the “Bohemian Week“ project. This required them to offer a certain meal on the menu against payment in the form of a drawing... more...

Modelling out at Sea, Project for Galerie NEMO
19 Juli – 23 August 1997, Eckernförde, Germany
The “Modelling out at Sea“ project took place in the summer of 1997 on the beach at Eckernförde. It involved anchoring a pontoon about 100 metres out in the sea, opposite the section of shore where Galerie NEMO (which organised the project) is located. more...

Motif Balanstraße, Project for the Balanstraße exhibition space
4 May– 30 July 1996, Munich, Germany
In this project, Gislason placed a notice in the window of Ausstellungsraum Balanstraße, inviting passers-by to enter the gallery (which was left unattended apart from CCTV cameras) and look out at the street through the large window and draw... more...

Medium St. Pauli, Project without institutional involvement
7 June – 15 November 1995, Hamburg St.Pauli, Germany
The “Medium St. Pauli“ project took place in nine bars in the red-light district of St. Pauli, Hamburg. It involved leaving boxes of drawing material in the bars, and encouraging the guests to pin up messages or drawings on a notice. more...

Media Thule, „Skulpturlandskap Nordland“
opened on 28 August 1994, Myklebostad, Norway
A 20-square-metre wooden house designed by Olafur Gislason was erected at a lonely place next to the sea at Nordland, Norway.
The house is always open to visitors, and has a large panorama window overlooking the sea. Paper, pencils, water-colour paints... more...