ART CITIES:Paris-Daniel Buren

Since the ‘60s Buren’s critical analysis of painting , attempting to refine the act to an elemental form , led him to find what is now a trademark “visual tool”, the use of 8.7cm wide white and coloured vertical stripes. Once chosen for its anonymity and neutral presence, the stripe has become a signature for Buren’s work.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Fondation Louis Vuitton Archive

Daniel Buren moved from working with paint (1965–67) to working with space and its context. All his works are now conceived specifically for the space, context and features of the host venue and are created in situ. His new site-specific work “L’Observatoire de la lumière” at the Fondation Louis Vuitton is installed across the glass “sails”, in close dialogue with the building by Frank Gehry. The 12 “sails”, are formed of 3,600 pieces of glass, are covered by an array of 13 chromatic filters that are in turn punctuated, at equal distances from one another, by alternating white and black stripes perpendicular to the ground. The 13 selected color filters manipulate the sunlight, making colored forms appear and disappear, to create contrasts, shadows, and reflections, generating silhouettes, figures, and projections that will appear, disappear or assume various shapes with the movement of the sun as the day goes by. Through a play of colors, projections, reflections, transparencies and contrasts, both inside and outside, Daniel Buren presents the building in a new light.

Info: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Bois de Boulogne, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris, Days & Hours: Mon & Wed-Thu 12:00-19:00, Fri 1:00-23:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-20:00, www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr