Néons 0°, 45°, 90°, 135° avec 4 rythmes interférents
White neon tubes in metallic chamber and plexiglas
81 × 81 × 10 cm (31 7/8 × 31 7/8 × 3 15/16 in.) (each box)
Four parallel panels covered with white neon lights blinking on and off are arranged in trajectories that vary every 45 degrees. Retinal persistence is a phenomenon where sudden discharges of light interfere with each other in the viewer’s bedazzled eyes.
François Morellet’s 1963 light installation Neons 0°, 90°, 135° with 4 Interfering Rhythms was his first experiment with neon as a creative material, which later became inseparable from his kinetic work. "Light itself must be considered a visual material and not its reflection," he said at the time. He liked this emerging symbol of a new society for its perfectly straight shape, its immediacy, its luminous intensity and its industrial design.
Neons 0°, 45°, 90°, 135° with 4 Interfering Rhythms will be shown for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the “Au-delà de la couleur” ("Beyond Colour") show at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in June 2021.
