ARoS in Aarhus, Denmark

Ron Mueck's "Boy"

ARoS is Aarhus's Art Museum and for me, the most interesting one I visited in Denmark.  It's main draw artwork must be Ron Mueck’s "Boy" which at 4.5 m high looks creepily real with hair and eyelashes and eyebrows - not just painted on representations.  You may have seen it at the Millenium Dome, London in 2000 where it was first shown but ARoS is now Boy's home.

Boy from below

Boy's Foot

Boy from behind

I did wonder how they had got the shorts on this cast fibreglass figure but if you look closely the centre back seam conceals a zip - very cunning!  You don't have to like "Boy" to be impressed by him.

Olafur Eliasson's "Your Rainbow Panorama"

Another draw to ARoS is Olafur Eliasson's  "Your Rainbow Panorama" (2011) which tops the roof on slim white columns.  This is a 3m wide, 150m long circular walkway in all the colours of the rainbow.  This work is supposed to blur the boundaries between what is art and what is the museum.  It's very colourful and surprising how the colours change as you look forward and backwards as you walk round.  (If the name sounds familiar you may have seen Olafur Eliasson's "The Weather Project" in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, London in 2003/4 or his response to Turner's work in Tate Britain, London "Turner colour experiments" which is on now until 25 January 2015.)

Colourful view from "Your Rainbow Panorama"

Another work by Eliasson is "Your Atmospheric Colour Atlas" (2009)

Health & Safety Notice

No - you can't see very far!

This was fun to walk round if a bit disorientating and disturbing.

Although there were plenty of other interesting works in the Gallery the only other exhibition I would like to mention is that of Jesper Just - "Appearing/Intercourses".  This was a series of short films with no dialogue and no explanation.  The actions are ambiguous and the locations carefully chosen leaving the viewer wondering what the story actually is out of many possible stories.  Excellent material for creative writing groups to ponder - I'd certainly like to read their stories.  I wonder whether their interpretations would be anything like mine?  I thought this was a really interesting and thought provoking exhibition. 

If you get the chance to go to Aarhus then ARoS is a definite must see.