Ring cycle

Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann’s contribution to a Californian wine and art destination is a circular, multi hued pavilion offering an ode to the vinicultural journey

- TF CHAN

The Donum Estate, a 200-acre winery nestled between California’s Napa and Sonoma counties, ranks among the world’s top destinations for outdoor sculpture. Its enviable holdings include a dozen bronze Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei, an apparently abandoned lead warplane by Anselm Kiefer, a giant pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, and a stainless steel banyan tree sprouting dishes and pots by Subodh Gupta. But when Olafur Eliasson accepted an invitation from owners Mei and Allan Warburg to visit Donum three years ago, he wanted to contribute a piece of architecture rather than a sculpture.

‘It’s not about making a monument. The most important thing about a winery is the moment the wine goes into your mouth, so that’s what we set out to focus on: a wine-tasting pavilion,’ explains the artist when we meet in Berlin in April. Also present is Sebastian Behmann, his architectural collaborator since 2001 and fellow co-founder of Studio Other Spaces. The studio is known for its experiments at the intersection of architecture and art, with projects such as Fjordenhus, the headquarters of an investment firm in Vejle, Denmark; The Seeing City, a permanent installation for the top two floors of a Paris skyscraper; and the upcoming Common Sky, a canopy of glass and mirrors for the courtyard of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York.

For Eliasson, wine is ‘a testimony to the Earth’. Its taste can be shaped by the winemaker, but ultimately it is determined by the landscape, its biodiversity and, of course, the weather – a perennial occupation dating back to The Weather Project (2003), his seminal installation in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. His