Ann Veronica Janssens

Ann Veronica Janssens is an experimental artist known for her in situ installations.

Biography of Ann Veronica Janssens

The artist was born in 1956 in Folkestone, United Kingdom. She pursued her studies at L’École de la Cambre in Brussels. 

Janssens' artistic career has been punctuated by numerous solo exhibitions at various venues, including the South London Gallery in London, the Louisiana Museum in Humlebæk, the De Pont Foundation in Tilburg, the Kiasma Museum in Helsinki, the Baltimore Museum of Art in the USA, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Villeurbanne, France, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, USA, and the SMAK in Ghent, Belgium.

In 1999, she represented Belgium at the 45th Venice Biennale. In 2003, Janssens participated in the exhibition "Aux origines de l’abstraction. 1800-1914" with her proposal Red 106 - Blue 132. Her work has been featured in various international biennials, including the 18th Sydney Biennale (2012), Manifesta 8 in Murcia (2011), the 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennial (2006), the 11th Sydney Biennial (1998), the 5th Istanbul International Biennial (1997), and the 22nd São Paulo International Biennial (1994).

Currently, the artist lives and works in Brussels.

Ann Veronica Janssens' Art Style

Janssen is known for her innovative use of simple or intangible materials like light, projections, sound, and artificial fog. The viewer is faced with the sensation of the "elusive" and a transient experience, where they cross the boundary between distinct and controlled vision. This encounter embodies a sense of losing control, experiencing instability, and fragility, whether it's visual, physical, temporal, or psychological.

She generates "propositions" or "interventions" rather than traditional artworks. Her installations are grounded in the interplay between time and space. Janssens' "propositions" render the ordinarily imperceptible facets visible, manipulating elements and playing with our perception. They manifest as phenomenological encounters, disrupting the familiarity we know.

Besides her visual art practice, she has collaborated with choreographers such as Pierre Droulers and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Additionally, she co-initiated the "Brain Space Laboratory" of the Institute of Contemporary Art of Villeurbanne in 2009 with Nathalie Ergino, an interdisciplinary project bringing together artists and scientists to explore and exchange reflections and experiences.