A sunset over the Hangar Y basin
Presented as part of the exhibition " Taking the Sun " exhibition, until January 14, 2024
Sunset in the Woods | Ludmila Rodrigues and Mike Rijnierse
Born in 1979 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and born in 1974 in Harlem, Netherlands.
Ludmila Rodrigues and Mike Rijnierse are based in The Hague, Netherlands, and have been collaborating since 2011. Together, they design large-scale installations in public spaces. They create in harmony with the environment, fostering interactions between visitors and spaces. Through their work, the artists encourage the public to play an active role, enabling both an architectural and a sensory experience of their imposing structures. With everyday situations as their starting point, they bring a new perspective on our relationship with objects, architecture and nature.
The sunset, a natural, everyday phenomenon, exerts a timeless and universal fascination. It is one of the most frequently captured subjects, from the emergence of color photography in the 20th century, to the popularization of smartphones. Broadcast and shared on social networks, thousands of times over, under the hashtag sunset, the sunset is increasingly experienced through the screens of cameras. Reduced to a digital visual experience, it's becoming rare to capture the original scale and splendor of this phenomenon.
With Sunset in the Woods, Ludmila Rodrigues and Mike Rijnierse artificially recreate this natural spectacle to overcome these contradictions. The sunset, by nature fleeting and limited to a single vantage point, acquires a new perspective thanks to this floating sculpture on the surface of the Bassin de Chalais, with the forest of Meudon in the background. The artist duo suspend time and distort space. Lit throughout the night and visible at 360 degrees, Sunset in the Woods renews the experience of the setting sun. The work invites us to stroll slowly and contemplatively, offering the public the opportunity to gravitate around the sun as night falls.