By Olafur Eliasson
Foreword by Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Director of the National Gallery of Iceland
Introduction by Hjálmar Sveinsson
A wanted ad brought 35 photographs to artist Ólafur Elíasson. Using these photographs he formed the series Cars in Rivers in 2009. By orchestrating the photos sent to him by jeep driving
adventurers, Ólafur Elíasson pays homage to a cultural activity born out of a direct struggle with nature, since motorized exploration of the Icelandic highlands is only a recent experience.
The book is also an homage to the “unknown explorer” and his extensive terrain, sublime nature. At the same time the series can, in a symbolic way, describe the economic crisis the Icelandic nation has been enduring. The metaphor of a half sunk jeep stranded in the middle of a raging river is unmistakable.
170 x 230 mm
40 pages
35 colour photographs