Philippe Parreno Marquee (Tate Modern), 2016
Diffusion acrylic glass (white satin finish), 33 bulbs, 8 LED lights, metal
292 x 782 x 82 cm
Especially conceived for Parreno’s 2016 Hyundai Commission at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, this work is almost eight meters wide. The corpus made from white frosty Plexiglas is lit from inside.
Philippe Parreno’s Marquee objects are unique works—individual in their form, light effect and construction. The artist’s Marquees combine lighting techniques that are almost a thing of the past (such as incandescent bulbs and neon tubes) with modern acrylics that are milled, shaped and formed according to the latest fabrication methods. Marquees were built since the beginning of the 20th century. The glowing, flickering porch roofs in front of entrances to cinemas and theatres were announcing movie titles and names of actors. Placed over the entrance of a gallery a Marquee by Philippe Parreno usually announces an exhibition event or a performance that takes place at the venue. The light-lit planes of the Marquees carry no text, thus the works play with a level of abstraction and acquire a different meaning according to the context of an exhibition and imagination of the viewer. The artist built his first Marquee on the occasion of the exhibition Interior Cartoons at Esther Schipper in Berlin (2006).
Philippe Parreno’s Marquee objects are unique works—individual in their form, light effect and construction. The artist’s Marquees combine lighting techniques that are almost a thing of the past (such as incandescent bulbs and neon tubes) with modern acrylics that are milled, shaped and formed according to the latest fabrication methods. Marquees were built since the beginning of the 20th century. The glowing, flickering porch roofs in front of entrances to cinemas and theatres were announcing movie titles and names of actors. Placed over the entrance of a gallery a Marquee by Philippe Parreno usually announces an exhibition event or a performance that takes place at the venue. The light-lit planes of the Marquees carry no text, thus the works play with a level of abstraction and acquire a different meaning according to the context of an exhibition and imagination of the viewer. The artist built his first Marquee on the occasion of the exhibition Interior Cartoons at Esther Schipper in Berlin (2006).