Soleil de Nuit

Laurent Grasso was born in Mulhouse in 1972. He lives and works in Paris. Recent exhibitions and commissions include: “Reflections belong to the past” (Kunstverein, Arnsberg, Germany); Group exhibitions such as “Projection” at Carré d’art (Nîmes, France), “Invention of a world” at Institut ITAU Cultural (Sao Paulo, Brazil). The project “Nomiya”, situated on the roof of Palais de Tokyo in Paris can be visited and also offers a unique culinary experience (www.nomiya.org). Laurent Grasso was an artist in residence at the Villa Medicis (Rome) and ISCP (New York). He was the winner of the Altadis Prize in 2005, and the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2008. Whether he is (re)working the more or less identifiable forms of our control-oriented society or subverting the cinematic techniques and conventions that shape our collective imagination, Laurent Grasso creates environments with a strong narrative potential, combining atavistic fears, scientific evidence and ominous contemporary mythologies. His works could somehow revive a taste for the paranoid retro-futuristic prophecies pronounced by Charles Fourier two centuries ago. In fact, light, sound, radio and electromagnetic waves, natural, paranormal and meteorological phenomena are regularly incorporated in Laurent Grasso’s works. They create totally new sensory experiences that become vehicles for partially finished products of the imagination to be completed by the viewer. By generating a tension between the works on show, their environment and the sometimes dramatic projections to which they can give rise, Laurent Grasso creates nagging mental images that tend to obscure our view of what we commonly call “reality”.

Soleil de Nuit was created through the City’s Percent for Art policy related to the construction of the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre. Artist Laurent Grasso designed the artwork specifically for Edmonton’s northern location and climate. Both elements – the neon letters and faceted stainless steel spheres –relate to the theme of light and false suns, and the creation of artificial climates. A northern city, Edmonton relies on artificial light and heat to survive long winters. The light cast by the neon portion of the artwork is a low-intensity orange glow – reminiscent of “vintage neon” rather than the intense hues seen now. Light tests were conducted to ensure that people living near the facility will not be impacted by light spillage after dark. The glow cast by the neon is estimated to be of the same intensity as a streetlight.