Situated a top ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, in Denmark, the elevated 360-degree walkway Your rainbow panorama is recognisable from a far. One hundred fifty metres around and glazed with rainbow-coloured glass, the work divides Aarhus into various colour zones and acts as a beacon for people moving about the city – an effect that is heightened at night when lights running the circumference of the walkway illuminate it from within.
In 2007 Eliasson and his studio won an invited architectural competition with their proposal to transform the rooftop of the museum, which was built by schmidt hammer lassen architects. Installed in 2011, Your rainbow panorama offers visitors sweeping views of the city, the sky, and the distant horizon.
Moving around the work, visitors have the sense of being within an endless loop, transitioning smoothly from one colour to the next through the entire spectrum, while their perception of the city scape constantly changes. When they stand still, the world outside appears almost monochromatic but with heightened details.The longer they stand in one place, the more their vision adjusts to the colour of the pane before them, making the tint grow pale. Stronger hues in their peripheral vision, where the glass curves away, coax them to keep moving.Only through movement are visitors able to perceive the full range of colours. In Your rainbow panorama, it becomes clear that colour perception is relative, seeing is embodied.
