Fly a Dragon Kite
Nic Hess (Zurich, 1968)
Collection: Fonds d'art contemporain de la Ville et du Canton de Genève (FMAC and FCAC), Neon Parallax project
On top of a building on avenue Henri-Dunant, the Zurich artist Nic Hess created a light-sculpture whose geometric silhouette is reminiscent of the shape of the Plaine de Plainpalais, which it overlooks. Different-colored diamonds are strung together like a kite frozen in mid-air. Sober and minimal, the backlit shapes emphasize the diversity of the shades of colors chosen by the artist, which change every week, presenting fifty-two variations per year. The illuminated panels are a kind of abstract logo floating up high, offering a mischievous response to the commercial signs that one usually encounters. The work plays on its potential association with advertising pictograms. In his work, Nic Hess develops projects that have a direct connection to the spaces in which they are presented. He manipulates icons from the marketing world, various acronyms and symbols, and has assembled a visual archive of images from popular culture and art history. He reinterprets and re-contextualizes them in large-scale compositions that play with the limits of design and sculpture.
Article commissioned by P3Art
Notice: Séverine Fromaigeat, translation: Matthew Cunningham
Infos
Map
Avenue Henri-Dunant 6
1205 Genève
Switzerland
Photo: Serge Frühauf
