Daniel Buren Colors Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton

Daniel Buren is bringing a world of color to the Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton.

On May 11, the Fondation will unveil Observatory of Light at Gehry’s Parisian masterpiece, which will be installed across the building’s twelve ‘sails’, covering 3,600 pieces of glass with a staggering array of colored filters that are in turn punctuated, at equal distances from one another, by alternating vertical white and blank stripes. The thirteen selected colors make forms appear and disappear, ever-changing with the time of day and the season.

Through a play of colors, projections, reflections, transparencies and contrasts, both inside and outside, Buren, an artist best known for using regular, contrasting colored stripes in an effort to integrate visual surface and architectural space, notably on historical, landmark architecture who is best recognized by his use of color and shape, shows the building in a new light. The interior spaces and various terraces of the Foundation provide an unmatched perspective for visitors to view and admire this spectacular installation in all of its subtlety, especially under the sun. It is similar to an installation he created in Gateshead, England, at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. 

To celebrate the occasion, the Fondation will showcase a catalogue of Buren’s work from the 1970s through the present, thematically linked by colour, transparency, light, translucency and projection. Additionally, BurenCirque—a project established in the early 2000s by Buren and contemporary circus pioneers Dan and Fabien Demunyck—will set up across from the Fondation, performing new show ‘3 times a Hut’ between 2^nd – 4^th June 2016.

The temporary work is in line with Fondation Louis Vuitton’s commitment to contemporary creation and encouragement of innovative encounters with its architecture. Since its 2014 unveiling, the center, which was conceived by Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy–has become known as a hub for music, art and culture.