Heliotrope (2023)

Overview

Philippe Parreno creates singular, multisensory viewer experiences characterised by their unique spatiotemporal dynamics, allowing for open-ended, highly participatory explorations. Heliotrope (2023) is a multicomponent light installation that utilises computerised heliostats (devices mechanically trained to redirect solar rays). Parreno bestows the heliostat with three steel, lacquered insect-like ‘feet’ and tops the devices’ stick-shaped bodies with coloured mirrors to create striking light-beam arrangements that shift with the movement of the sun. The work, which shares its name with a genus of flowering plants that face the sun, amplifies the interconnectedness between humans, science and the environment.