Ann Veronica Janssens
Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
April 06 – July 30, 2023

Since the late 1970s, Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens (b. Folkestone, UK, 1956; lives and works in Brussels) has constantly investigated the sensory perception of reality. Using elusive and ephemeral elements such as light, sound, and water, the artist creates works and situations that disorient the viewer, breaking down their conventional perceptive mechanisms – both physical and psychic – and questioning concepts such as intangibility, emptiness and materiality.

The exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca will retrace the artist’s entire career, with sculptures, videos, as well as environmental and sound installations. It will bring together historical works and her most iconic pieces – such as those consisting of glitter or artificial mist – with new works and interventions that will dialogue with the architecture and with the introduction of natural light into the space.

Several institutions have organised solo exhibitions of Ann Veronica Janssens, including the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, and the South London Gallery (2020); Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris (2019); Baltimore Museum of Art, De Pont, Tilburg, and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2018); IAC – Institut d’art contemporain – Villeurbanne/ Rhône-Alpes (2017); The Nasher Sculpture Museum, Dallas (2016); Wellcome Collection, London (2015); Ausstellungshalle Zeitgenössiche Kunst, Münster, and CRAC Alsace – centre rhénan d’art contemporain, Altkirch (2011); WIELS, Brussels, Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castellò, Castellón (2009); Museum Mosbroich, Leverkussen (2007); Kunsthalle Bern, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and CCAC Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2003); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2001).

She has participated in important international exhibitions – including Sharjah Biennial 14 (2019), Manifesta 10, St Petersburg (2014); Biennale of Sydney (2012); Biennale de Lyon (2005) and Bienal de São Paulo (1995) – and in group exhibitions in institutions such as Kunsthalle Wien, SMAK, Ghent, Grand Palais, Paris, and Punta della Dogana, Venice (2019); Hayward Gallery, London (2018); Mudam, Luxembourg, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires (2015); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014); Fundació Juan Miró, Barcelona (2013). In 1999 she represented Belgium (with Michel François) at the 48th Venice Biennale.

more. www.pirellihangarbicocca.org