Philippe Parreno's Marquee, 2023, is the latest work in the artist's Marquee series which he initiated in 2006. Parreno's Marquees are unique pieces: individual in their form, light effect and...
Philippe Parreno's Marquee, 2023, is the latest work in the artist's Marquee series which he initiated in 2006. Parreno's Marquees are unique pieces: individual in their form, light effect and construction. This particular Marquee is comprised of 6 distinct modules and was created especially for the opening of Pilar Corrias Conduit Street, London. Suspended above the staircase, the glowing Marquee spans the realms of sculpture, architecture and art.
The artist’s Marquees combine lighting techniques that are almost a relic of the past (such as incandescent bulbs and neon tubes) with modern acrylics that are milled, shaped and formed according to the latest fabrication methods.
The series was inspired by the glowing, flickering neon-lit marquees which were placed above the entrances to cinemas and theatres in the mid-20th century, announcing the titles of films and plays, the names of actors and screening times. Deprived of their original, intended context and placed in a gallery space or room, however, Parreno's Marquees acquire an altogether different meaning. For the artist, a Marquee is an intervention in the exhibition space that introduces the possibility of an event; no longer advertising a cinematographic show but still suggesting the presence of cinema. The works instead make a tacit appeal to the imagination of the viewer, alluding to the possibility of some future, as yet unrealised occurrence or event.