Philippe Parreno Marquee, 2017

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 triangular corpus. Its front is made up of two, slightly angled clear acrylic panels—surrounded with lightbulbs—each with a row of 13 horizontal neon tubes placed horizontally, as well as two neon disks. The lightbulbs and neons flicker alternatively according to a lighting program conceived by Philippe Parreno.

Philippe Parreno’s Marquee are unique pieces–individual in their form, light effect and construction. The artist’s Marquees combine lighting techniques that are almost a thing of the past (such as incandescent bulbs and neon tubes) with modern acrylics that are milled, shaped and formed according to the latest fabrication methods.

Marquees were built since the beginning of the 20th century. The glowing, flickering porch roofs in front of entrances to cinemas and theatres were announcing movie titles and names of actors. Placed over the entrance of a gallery a Marquee by Philippe Parreno usually announces an exhibition event or a performance that takes place at the venue. The light-lit planes of the Marquees carry no text, thus the works play with a level of abstraction and acquire a different meaning according to the context of an exhibition and imagination of the viewer.