abstract lenticular artworks explore the color of light at BMW’s green ray exhibition

The Green ray by Mustapha Azeroual and Marjolaine Lévy

In The Green Ray exhibition at the Cloister of Saint-Trophime during the Rencontres d’Arles, self-taught artist Mustapha Azeroual and curator Marjolaine Lévy delve into the color of light through a series of abstract lenticular artworks. Part of the BMW ART MAKERS program, the show is a collaborative experiment involving the artist, curator, and sailors navigating the high seas worldwide. Azeroual and Lévy asked these travelers to photograph sunsets and sunrises, then transformed the images into color-changing forms to capture the essence of light and color. ‘I tried to find that sensitive point of photography,’ Azeroual shared during the exhibition preview attended by designboom. ‘This installation is like advice telling you that you’re not gonna see images, but you’re gonna see the effect,’ he adds.

The exhibition is on view in Arles, France, until September 29th, 2024, and is set to be redesigned for Paris Photo at the Grand Palais, Paris.

For over a decade, Mustapha Azeroual has focused his abstract work on exploring the color of light. As a self-taught artist with a background in science, he uses photography to investigate perception and sensation. The Green Ray exhibition emerged from Azeroual’s meeting with Marjolaine Lévy, a contemporary art historian and curator. Lévy, who specialized in narrative socialized abstraction after writing a thesis on the return of the avant-gardes in contemporary art, found a shared theoretical and philosophical connection with Azeroual. Their collaboration led to winning the third edition of BMW ART MAKERS, a program by BMW Group that grants artistic freedom to an artist-curator duo annually.

In The Green Ray exhibition, prizewinners Mustapha Azeroual and Marjolaine Lévy explore the rare optical phenomenon of the green ray, previously referenced by Jules Verne and Marcel Duchamp. This green dot appears briefly at sunrise or sunset. The duo uses lenticular panopticons—images that change based on the viewing angle—to create an immersive experience showcasing what the human eye typically misses. The large-scale panels, featuring colors from pinks and blues to vibrant yellows and greens, are crafted from photographs taken by sailors navigating the Arctic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, as well as the Mediterranean. This abstract presentation poetically reflects the impact of climatic phenomena and human activities on the skies and seas. Azeroual and Lévy’s blurred visions ultimately suggest a broader degeneration: that of our planet.

myrto katsikopoulou I designboom

jul 08, 2024