Introduction

23:56:04, a new site-specific work by Ann Veronica Janssens will be on view from June 20 through October 30 at the Panthéon in Paris. Installed underneath the landmark’s dome, the work invites the visitors to rediscover the historical site and its architectural space.  

For 23:56:04, Ann Veronica Janssens placed a large-scale mirror on the floor beneath the constantly swinging Foucault pendulum – a scientific device demonstrating the Earth’s rotation that was introduced to the building’s interior in 1851. The mirror reflects the moving pendulum as well as the monumental architectural features of the Panthéon, its dome, friezes, balustrades, colonnades, and frescoes. This deep, almost abyssal reflection submerses the visitors into the majestic volume of the building and stages the physical effect of vertigo. With this minimal yet impressive architectural and perceptual intervention, the artist seeks to newly reconfigure visitors’ experience of this great Parisian monument.

Janssens’ work foregrounds the body’s perception of the world and itself in it. She often uses light, natural optical phenomena or glass as a medium. Produced with great care, her works exude the impression of great simplicity yet create vivid experiences of the act of seeing, evoking a heightened awareness of the changeability and fleetingness of the individual perception.

Ann Veronica Janssens
23:56:04
Panthéon
Pl. du Panthéon
75005 Paris
June 21 – October 30, 2022
www.paris-pantheon.fr