BMA Presents Ann Veronica Janssens: Fog Star in the Spring House Beginning May 30

Artist also celebrates Baltimore’s cinema and silver industries with city-wide Silver Screens project

BALTIMORE, MD (May 17, 2018)—The interior of The Baltimore Museum of Art’s (BMA) neoclassical Spring House will be transformed with light, haze, and color as part of a special installation by Brussels based artist Ann Veronica Janssens. On view from May 30 through October 31, 2018, Ann Veronica Janssens: Fog Star is the newest work in the artist’s series of Fog Star installations that explore the shifting nature of perception.

“We are delighted to reopen the BMA’s Spring House with this vibrant and captivating installation by Ann Veronica Janssens,” said BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director Christopher Bedford. “Her atmospheric work will provide visitors a completely new experience of this historic building.”

Designed around 1812 by U.S. Capitol architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the Spring House moved from the Oakland estate in Roland Park to the BMA in 1932. During museum hours, visitors will encounter a glow of brilliantly hued light emanating from the Spring House. Inside, beams of light form a seven pointed star. Artificial haze passes through the light, creating an illusion of sculptural solidity. Focused on fleeting and intimate experiences of the world, Janssens draws viewers’ attention to our own processes of perception within a surrounding environment.

Ann Veronica Janssens: Fog Star is curated by Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art Cecilia Wichmann.

SILVER SCREENS
Coinciding with the exhibition, Janssens is producing Silver Screens as part of Bortolami Gallery’s Artist/City program, an ongoing series of long-term projects and exhibitions in cities across the country. Janssens is gilding areas on the facade of theaters and cinemas throughout Baltimore with silver rectangles the same proportions as a classic widescreen film—referring to the impressive history of theaters and cinemas in Baltimore. Between 1900 and 1970, a total of 235 theaters were constructed in the city, far more than in most American cities. Some of these theaters are still open, others closed, and still others repurposed. Janssens was drawn to this unique aspect of Baltimore because her work is focused on transforming light into content, just as theaters and specifically cinemas do. These silver screens also refer to Baltimore’s history in the silver industry.

Silver screens can be found at the following theatres: Mayfair Theater (508 North Howard Street), Patterson Theater (3134 Eastern Avenue), and Edgewood Theater at Olivet Baptist Church (3500 Edmondson Avenue). Additional silver screens will be added throughout the city this summer. For more information, visit  http://bortolamigallery.com/artistcity/.

Ann Veronica Janssens
Ann Veronica Janssens (b. 1956, Folkstone, UK) lives and works in Brussels. Her work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including WIELS – Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels (Belgium), the Espai d’art contemporani in Castelló (Spain), the Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen (Germany), the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (Germany), the Kunstverein München (Germany), the Musée d’Orsay in Paris (France), the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham (UK), the Kunsthalle Bern (Switzerland) the Beppu project (Japan), Museo Cappella Sanseverro, with Nord Project, in Naples (Italy) and Unlimited at Art Basel (Switzerland). In 1999, she co-represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale with fellow artist Michel François. Her work was also presented at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2016.

About the Baltimore Museum of Art

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.