Usually, a new exhibition or artwork is displayed within a gallery space. Or sometimes, the piece is situated in an outdoor installation set-up. But French conceptual artist Daniel Buren creates work that is anything but the norm, and for his latest project, he used the hosting venue’s structure itself as the canvas for his creation. His new piece for the Fondation Louis Vuitton, titled “Observatory of Light,” literally transforms the museum’s structure itself through the manipulation of colour and light. And it’s so visually arresting that it is sure to stop anyone strolling through Paris’ Jardin d’Acclimatation in their tracks when they see it.
Buren’s innovative oeuvre consists of projects that are all created to fit within a certain space or context, and he has become known for his architecturally stunning installations. For this project, he worked in dialogue with the design of the building: Buren’s aim was to challenge its current aesthetic, but also to respect it. He covered the surface of the cloud-like Frank Gehry-designed building with 3,600 pieces of glass, layering them with alternating coloured filters. With a colour palette ranging from soft golden yellow to bright salmon pink, the glass planes create the illusion of candy-coloured stripes covering the building’s facade. And depending on the time of day and the season, the sun hits the planes in a different manner, creating ever-shifting projections and reflections. The project is what Bernard Arnault, president of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, calls “pertinent and enchanting.”
For more information, visit the Fondation’s website. “Observatory of Light” will run until the end of the 2016.
Gallery
Daniel Buren Transforms Paris’ Glittering Fondation Louis Vuitton
1 / 4
