Ann Veronica Janssens

Belgian artista Ann Veronica Janssens was born in Folkestone (UK) in 1956. She has shown extensively in museums and biennials since the early 1990s, representing Belgium in the 1999 Venice Biennale, and showing at the 2010 Manifesta 8 in Murcia. She is known as a creator of experimental environments featuring the enhanced properties of light.

After early experiments in ephemeral installations, Janssens turned to light as the primary tool of her artistic practice. Through densely illuminated spaces, Janssens’ work reaches out to meet the spectator, making it impossible to separate the artwork from its perception. Many of Janssens’ environments use intense monochromatic hues, frequently arranged in mesmerizing symmetrical patterns.

Janssens employs a wide range of materials chosen for their luminescent properties, from translucent plastics and glass to liquids. Often, however, the light source itself is the only material object in the space, whether multiple spotlights, a LED sign or a powerful bulb.

More recently Janssens has explored environments featuring eerily lit artificial mists. These coloured mists enwrap the spectator, altering our capacity to perceive external space and changing perception of our own bodies.

Janssens has worked extensively with creators from other fields, designing ambiences for choreographers like Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

Jeffrey Swartz