Philippe Parreno Marquee, 2015

Philippe Parreno's Marquee belongs to an ongoing body of work started in 2006 that consists of more than 60 existing marquees to date.

The work consists of a rectangular corpus made of transparent Plexiglas with 140 transparent halogen light bulbs in equally transparent sockets arranged on a grid. The corpus is strapped with 5 transparent neon tubes, while 15 fluorescent stage lights complete the sculpture. The light bulbs and neon lights flicker alternatively according to 8 individual lighting programs conceived by the artist.

Marquees first appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. The glowing, flickering porch roofs in front of entrances to cinemas and theaters were announcing movie titles and names of actors.

The artist built his first Marquee on occasion of the exhibition Interior Cartoons at Esther Schipper in Berlin (2006). Parreno’s biggest Marquee to date was installed inside the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London, on occasion of the artist’s 2016 Hyundai Commission: Anywhen.