#insight | Art World
#MACFOCUS: ANN VERONICA JANSSENS
Artist of the week
This week's #MACFOCUS is on Ann Veronica Janssens, Belgian artist on show at Pirelli HangarBicocca with the exhibition 'Grand Bal' until July 30th.
Throughout her 40-year career, Janssens has continued to experiment with light, her primary material. She has investigated the sensory and performative nature of space and architecture, creating works that are mutable and ephemeral.
Janssens has built her practice on overcoming the art object through its dematerialization and deconstruction. Through minimal forms and gestures, Janssens is actually able to change the public's perception of space. With their use of light, color, mirrors, air or artificial fog, the works of Janssens call for the direct participation of viewers, inviting them to experience reality differently. Emerging from her research, the artist's interventions are set on the border between art and science, and investigate the limits of human perception and psyche.
Pirelli HangarBicocca presents “Grand Bal”, a retrospective of the work of Ann Veronica Janssens, on show until July 30th.
The exhibition, curated by Roberta Tenconi, explores the career of Ann Veronica Janssens as well as different aspects of her practice. Presenting the most comprehensive selection of her works to date, it includes both historical projects and new productions designed to interact with the space of the Navate within Pirelli HangarBicocca and the outdoor area, expanding its boundaries. To do this, the artist has come up with an unprecedented intervention, waves (2023), in which she transforms some of the exit doors into openings: by replacing the doors with a porous, transparent PVC net, she allows natural light, as well as sounds, air and other external elements, to penetrate into the exhibition space. The resulting alterations fit dynamically within the exhibition plan, conceived by the artist as a visual and sound choreography that centers not so much on objects as on visitors: they are called upon to move and participate directly, following the train of sensations and perceptions generated while experiencing the works.
The title "Grand Bal" (grand ball in French) evokes precisely this performative dimension, and the dynamic relationship that is established between works, architecture and the human body as in a dance, where each and every element is necessary for the other to reveal itself completely.
Images of the exhibition:
1. Pioverà, coreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker inside the exhibition “Grand Bal” by Ann Veronica Janssens
Courtesy Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker; Ann Veronica Janssens and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
2. Ann Veronica Janssens, waves, 2023
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
3. Ann Veronica Janssens, for PHB, 2004-23
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
4. Ann Veronica Janssens, La pluie météorique, 1997 (detail)
Collezione M HKA / Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
5. Ann Veronica Janssens, MUHKA, Anvers, 1997-2023
Collection 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
6. Ann Veronica Janssens, Drops, 2023
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
7. Ann Veronica Janssens, Magic Mirrors (Pink & Blue), 2013-2023 (detail)
Courtesy of the artist and Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli
8. Ann Veronica Janssens, “Grand Bal”
Courtesy of the artist, Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Bortolami Gallery, New York; mennour, Paris/London; Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul; Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp; 1301PE, Los Angeles, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
9. Ann Veronica Janssens, Pink Coco Lopez, 2010 (detail).
Courtesy of the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlino/Parigi/Seoul
© 2023 Ann Veronica Janssens / SIAE. Foto Andrea Rossetti
#MACFOCUS è la rubrica della Milano Art Community che propone approfondimenti sulle gallerie d'arte contemporanea, fondazioni e spazi no profit più interessanti di Milano e sugli artisti da loro selezionati.
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