“What I’m interested in with this sculpture is its lightness, and it’s a bit the limit of sculpture. The limit of the possible object.” Watch the widely praised Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens in conversation with Professor in Physics Kristine Niss about Janssens’ intriguing work ‘Aerogel’ (2000-2002), which is composed 99.8 per cent of air.
Janssens explains how aerogel, which was invented in the 1930s, got a lot of interest from the aerospatial industry due to its lightness, its thermal insulation properties as well as its ability to collect small stardust. In the beginning, the material is a gel – a liquid – and then the liquid is replaced with air, the tiny unseen bubbles of air reflecting the colours: “The way light goes through it like it goes through the atmosphere layers sometimes blue, or when the sun is lower, sometimes yellow.”
Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956) creates installations, projections, immersive environments, urban interventions, and sculptures that explore the sensory experience of reality. Her work has been shown at the Lyon Biennale, France, the 48th Venice Biennale, Italy, at the Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern in London, UK, the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, USA and at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. She lives and works in Belgium.
Ann Veronica Janssens was interviewed by Christian Lund at her studio in Bruxelles, Belgium in connection to the exhibition ‘Hot Pink Turquoise’ at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark in January 2020.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edited by Rasmus Quistgaard
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2020
Supported by Nordea-fonden
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