Share
Since October 2012, in line with its special commitment to the art world, Le Bristol Paris and its curator, Florence Parot, have organised events related to some of the most challenging contemporary creations. Two internationally acclaimed artists are periodically invited to create work for the hotel bar and garden. These elegant spaces, sheltered from the agitation of the city, offer original decors in which one can appreciate sculptures, installations, and video works. These events are also an occasion for Le Bristol Paris to work with the best contemporary art galleries.
There are no prizes for guessing who Le Bristol Paris had worked with recently as the vibrant installation garnered thousands and thousands of eyeballs from all over the globe. The recent magical touch by Daniel Buren graced the site with a magnificent je ne sais quoi that is beyond just one's explanation. As for the legendary French artist, his colours and interpretation continue to ravish the modern day world of design.
Colours have taken the place of flowers. The traditional pergola has become a work in progress where blues, yellows, oranges, reds and purples create a prism that shifts according to the season and the time of day. In the architecture of Une pause colorée, each moment has its own colour and its own special ambiance. The place is constantly renewed by the play of shadows and diffraction caused by the changing light. The colours, arranged in alphabetical order, respond to changes in weather and sunlight. With the cinematic geometry of Une pause colorée, Daniel Buren reveals the place it is situated in.
From the windows of the Hotel Le Bristol Paris to the colonnade of the restaurant Epicure, this in situ—the base note of Buren’s artistic process—opens the space to hitherto unseen perceptions and points of view. The work is determined by the visitor according to the direction of his/her gaze and the place he/she is standing or sitting. For more than fifty years, across all continents, from the most prestigious museums to the most improbable sites, Daniel Buren’s work has been activating the term: in situ. “For me, it means that there is a willingly accepted link between the place and the ‘work’ that is made there.”
Art history has been significantly marked by this standpoint. The aesthetic and ethical consequences of the interdependence of the work and the place it appears in have turned Daniel Buren into an internationally recognised figure. With the “visual tool” of his alternating, 8.7 cm-wide stripes, he can play with landscapes and environments like one would play a piano. But whereas his modus operandi is absolutely constant, none of the works he makes resembles the last. Buren’s magic, an alchemy and a mystery, tirelessly re-enchants the world.
A print version of this article was originally published in d+a issue 95.
