sans titre

Pieter Vermeersch (Courtrai, Belgique, 1973)
Collection : Fonds d'art contemporain de la Ville de Genève (FMAC)

On the occasion of the renovation of the City of Geneva’s salt silos, an artistic intervention was installed on the outside of the building that houses them. This work by the Belgian artist Pieter Vermeersch was built into the structure of the building, and also penetrates the reservoirs’ technical operation system. The artist took advantage of the translucent façades, using them to create a visual apparatus that indicates the amount of material in the silos in real time. Illuminated panels visible from the outside are directly linked to the systems that measure the salt levels: the higher the level, the brighter the light. The building’s inner life is thus revealed to viewers outside. Each of the four silos is illuminated in a distinct color: blue, purple, orange or white, in accordance with the colors of the salt, which has, in a natural milieu, different tints depending on its geographic environment. Since the silos of de-icing salt are only used in winter, the work has other rhythms and colors in summer. Pieter Vermeersch, a contemporary heir of Color Field Painting, explores the characteristics of paint when it foregoes the canvas in order to fill space. He creates installations of color and light that are unusually monochrome, offering updated image-apparition processes. He sees gradations, immersive environments, and mural paintings with dissipative contours as processes that foster and feed the experience of perception.
Article commissioned by P3Art
Notice: Séverine Fromaigeat, translation: Matthew Cunningham