Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Grand Bal: Ann Veronica Janssens Retrospective

Ann Veronica Janssens, Blue, red and yellow, 2001.

Apr 6 – July 30, 2023
Via Chiese, 2, 20126 Milano MI, Italy

This exhibition of work by the Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens, who experiments with space and light, is aptly titled “Grand Bal.” Upon entering, visitors become participants in a fluid choreography, moving among installations that fill the senses with cybernetic and natural light, tactile fog, and glitter, among other elements. A set of swings covered with heat-reactive film changes color in response to the rider’s warmth, leaving behind a saturated mark of the interaction. A hollow white sculpture hides all signs of dimension, creating a blankness that’s akin to the infinite. The installations confuse perception, challenging viewers to exist, for that moment, in a zone between the intangible and the material. —Paulina Prosnitz