Diffusing and permeating into the space via art

Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens brings four decades of research into light, space and perception to Tokyo for her first solo exhibition in Japan. 5 Chome 4-1 Ginza, Tokyo is on view at Le Forum, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, from September 11th, 2026, to January 11th, 2027, placing her quietly radical practice in dialogue with the architecture and atmosphere of the site.

A dialogue with space

Born in Folkestone in 1956 and based in Brussels, Janssens has focused on the visitor’s experience since the late 1970s. Her installations use elusive elements—light, artificial haze, sound and simple materials—to make familiar surroundings difficult to decipher. Reflection, transparency and luminosity alter perceptions of time and space, shifting the encounter from the physical towards the psychological.

For 5 Chome 4-1 Ginza, Tokyo, around a dozen emblematic works span Janssens’ career. The title takes Le Forum’s exact address, underscoring the exhibition’s intimate connection to its location. Each work subtly changes the gallery’s light, atmosphere or rhythm, forming what the artist calls an invisible architecture shaped through sensory experience.

Light as material

Among the works on view is Rose, a pink seven-pointed star formed from intersecting beams of light. Existing through luminosity rather than conventional matter, it makes perception part of its material language. Swing features a thermosensitive seat that responds to body heat, leaving a fleeting trace of physical presence.

Janssens favours transparency, fluidity and lightness over fixed visual statements. Her installations can induce instability or disorientation, inviting visitors to engage through movement, attention and shifting perception.

Where art meets science

Janssens’ interest in perception extends into the territory of art and science, examining how the brain navigates spatial and physical phenomena. At Le Forum, light shifts, atmospheres fluctuate and the visitor’s body becomes part of the encounter, placing the relationship between artwork, architecture and observer above the object itself.

The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès previously showed Janssens’ work at La Verrière in Brussels in Philaetchouri, her 2015 exhibition with Michel François. From 2014 to 2016, she also mentored three artists during residencies at Hermès workshops through the Foundation’s Artists’ Residencies programme.