Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens has always placed color, light and natural phenomena at the centre of her research. She experiments within her artistic practice with specific characteristics of a series of carefully chosen materials. Glass, mirrors and aluminium in natural shapes and tones are made to interact with the human perception of reality, thus evoking a unique language of linear patterns and pure colors. The viewer is completely disoriented and lost by the ephemeral and intangible elements that he perceives as an integral part of the artist’s works. Light, sound and water are three of the main elements that allow her to present a unique and disconcerting sensory perception of reality. Those who find themselves immersed in her works in fact feel that they must question concepts such as emptiness and the materiality of existence, both on a physical and psychological level. The exhibition, curated by Roberta Tenconi and presented in Milan, is considered a choreographic collection of large-scale installations and more intimate and personal works, and expands from the aisles of Pirelli HangarBicocca to the outdoor area. The viewer is invited to move between atmospheres bordering on the surreal and practical references to real contemporary contexts.
“The light is my main material. I use it in all its forms, liquid, solid, gaseous… and as a reflection… It becomes a kind of demonstration of the radiation it produces.”
The artist’s desire is to create a different manifestation of reality, to experience every intangible aspect of human reality in an unusual way. The concept of the art that she presents to the public is the very experience that each of her works has on people. The exhibition at Pirelli Hangar Bicocca presents sculptures, videos, environmental and sound installations. The work itself becomes a place of perception, and hence the choice of elements used in her works is constantly evolving; the work is therefore no longer the object itself, but it is perception that becomes the real point. All the alterations created for the occasion fit dynamically and harmoniously into the path. At the same time, the name “Grand Bal” is meant to evoke a higher, performative and dynamic dimension created in the relationships between the different works presented. What the artist wants to achieve is the true awareness in the viewer’s eyes of a profound interest in shared sensory phenomena, but at the same time the possibility for everyone to take an unpredictable and personal path.
For further information pirellihangarbicocca.org.
“In my work there are simple forms of reduced proportions. It is as if I remove myself and reduce more and more to try to get to the minimum size.”
Courtesy the artist and Le Quartier - Centre d'Art Contemporaine de Quimper. Photo Dieter Klik.
Courtesy the artist and White Cube. Photo Ben Westoby.
Courtesy the artist and M HKA / Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp. SIAE Syb.L. S.
Courtesy the artist and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
SIAE Photo Poul Buchard
Courtesy the artist, Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes and Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul. SIAE Photo Andrea Rossetti.
