Ann Veronica Janssens

Ann Veronica Janssens, Venetian Blind, 2007-2021, aluminum Venetian blinds, gold leaf, 400 x 190 x 2 cm
Exhibition view: Ann Veronica Janssens, gam gam gam, Galleria d'Arte Moderna – GAM, Milan, 2021. 
Photo © Ann Veronica Janssens

On the occasion of Milan Design Week, Italian luxury house Bulgari presents Metamorphosis, an immersive journey inside the iconic Serpenti jewelry collection in dialogue with the work of four renowned contemporary artists, including Ann Veronica Janssens. 

Playfully titled gam gam gam, Janssens‘ site-specific installation conceived for the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan, uses natural light and a composition of new works characterized by a minimalist aesthetic in contrast with the maximalism and the sumptuous decor of the museum's architecture. The exhibition includes a golden Venetian blind which was specially produced for the windows of the room, and six of her iconic aquariums, where optical physical phenomena are used to expand the observers' perception.

A bilingual catalogue titled Serpenti. Il Potere delle Metamorfosi – The Power of Metamorphosis, published by Silvana Editoriale, is forthcoming.

Ann Veronica Janssens, Rose, 2007, 7 light projectors, artificial haze, pink filters, ø 360-400 cm approx. Depth 250 cm
Exhibition view: mars, IAC Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, 2017
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020
Photo © Blaise Adilon

CONNECT, BTS is a global initiative developed in collaboration with curators from five major cities—London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Seoul and New York. The ultimate goal of the project is to connect individuals across the world as they reevaluate their present circumstances, attitudes, and potentialities. CONNECT, BTS draws motifs from parts of BTS' philosophy that center around diversity, love and care for the periphery. By connecting with 22 contemporary artists, BTS is creating the opportunity for a fruitful and democratic cross-pollination between the worlds of rarefied visual art and pop music. This project adds support for contemporary art to their practice, setting ground for great new synergies.

At Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), a cultural hub conceived by Zaha Hadid in a historic district of Seoul, Ann Veronica Janssens will present two major installations. Green, Yellow and Pink is a mysterious disorienting sensory environment filled with a haze of colored artificial mist. It appears to abolish all spatial and temporal markers and the forces specific to a given context. At the same time, however, the installation seems to impart a sense of materiality and tactility to light itself. Beams of light form a seven-pointed star in Rose, which morphs between palpable geometry and amorphous atmospheric effects as visitors move about the space. Rose is part of Janssens’ Fog Star series, which explores the capacity of haze to give sculptural form to light.

More information HERE.

Ann Veronica Janssens, Hot Pink Turquoise, 2006, two halogen spotlights with dichroic filter, variable dimensions
Exhibition view: mars, Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, 2017. Courtesy the artist, IAC - Institut d'Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne and kamel mennour, Paris/London. Photo © Blaise Adilon

Through various media (installations, projections, immersive environments, urban interventions, sculptures), Ann Veronica Janssens invites the viewer to cross into a new sensory space on the borderline of dizziness and dazzlement in the solo exhibition Contemporary Counterpoint. 

In a register inspired by cognitive processes (perception, sensation, memory, representation), her works tend towards minimalism, emphasising the fleeting, ephemeral and fragile nature of the environments she invites us to enter.

In her desire to create a dialogue with Monet’s work, the artist will create a specific luminous immersive environment for the exhibition Contemporary Counterpoint at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.