Viewing Olafur Eliasson's show at the Museum of Modern Art is a lot like looking out at the rain from inside a crowded doorway. People grouped unexpectedly together waiting for the storm to pass, the oscillating fan to move above their heads and away in graceful perambulations. Walking through the yellow-lit hallway a common experience is created and shared, the focus is shifted away from the work towards those you are looking at the work with. The reduction of colors into a monotone a metaphor for a similar focusing of peoples into one shared moment. Looking at Eliasson's work becomes recognition more of the act of looking itself than of the piece.The sculptures heighten the awareness of the context: the museum space, going to see art. A celebration of the question, "what are we doing looking at this and why are we here?"A joy that is too often absent from cultural institutions is present in the constant clamoring of people talking, interacting together as they would anywhere else.The art is more a place than any collection of objects.It is a near cathartic feeling to be brought to a conscious experience of being part of a group that is inexplicably drawn together to look at art.

Specifically, this awareness occurs due to the manner that the work assigns particular meanings to space and movement. In a number of sculptures, mirrors confront the viewer with their position as an audience and simultaneously situate them in and as the work itself. Recognizing and accepting this dichotomy is key to appreciating Eliasson's work. In one of the pieces, a womb-like room lined on all sides with panels of transient colors, the people inside of it become active participants in its composition simply by being present. It is simultaneous contrast escaped from the second dimension; a pale, luminescent blue makes the man with the glasses look friendlier than the hellish red. It is work that reinforces and showcases the role that environment plays in viewing art and in the art itself. The installations and sculptures are simple systems designed to enhance our awareness of the "elliptical relationship between reality, perception, and representation," as Rukona Marcoci and Klaus Biesenbach state in their introduction to the show.

Where Eliasson's show begins to fall apart is where it loses the profundity that accompanies some of the works and they become shallow gimmicks, simple "oh,that's cool" pieces. It is a fineline between pinpointing something universal or sublime and a cheap, superficial appeal. Sincerity in the pieces is often overshadowed by their glamour. Are they just cheap shots drawing attention to clichés familiar to any art student? The sanctity of the museum space, being invaded, wants a justification beyond loud charm wrapped in a neat, conceptual package.

But, to dismiss Eliasson's work under the premise of these concerns would be to cheat yourself more than shed light on the nature of the show. It is important to take into account their dubious charisma and once recognizing this to abandon it and enjoy the experience.To rejoice in becoming part of the crowd waiting in line to see a piece of art, "you're at a museum" a security guard flatly stated to an impatient German couple.The introduction declares it is part of Eliasson's goal to "posit the very act of looking as a social experience." The show reminds us that it is a pleasure to look at art and makes us question what we really expect of the museum as a public space.