SUSANNA FRITSCHER: FÜR DIE LUFT (2017)

Loaned from the Centre Pompidou and reconfigured for the unique architectural and atmospheric conditions of Louvre Abu Dhabi, Austrian artist Susanna Fritscher’s Für die Luft (For the Air) consists of a maze-like installation constructed from 60,000 diaphanous silicon filaments stretched between the gallery’s floor and ceiling.
Acting as a mist-like filter between visitors and the light and architecture that surrounds them, Für die Luft, not only transformed visitors’ perception of the space that surrounds them but of their presence within it, forcing them to look very closely at their surroundings by playing with their perceptions.
Originally shown at the Musée d’arts de Nantes in France in 2017, Für die Luft’s site specific installation at Louvre Abu Dhabi engaged directly with the building and the complex geometry of Jean Nouvel’s dome while harnessing the natural daylight that is such a feature of the museum’s gallery spaces.
By capturing and emphasising this light, which moves, waxes and wanes throughout the day, Für die Luft becomes an apparently immaterial, kinetic piece of sculpture that echoes the kaleidoscopic Rain of Light that glides across the museum’s external spaces.