Jean-Michel Othoniel hadn't slept much in the past ten days. The French artist and his team were in Tampere, Finland, mounting a major solo exhibition at the Sara Hildén Art Museum. Springtime in Finland means the sun never really goes away, and the constant glow sneaking around the edges of his hotel room curtains was disturbing his nights.
Ironically, it was this magical, round-the-clock daylight that gave its name to his show: ‘Under an Endless Light’. Othoniel says, ‘Nature is very present, especially this time of year, and bathed in light. There's a precise moment when the snow disappears and the vegetation explodes. In France, it takes three months for all the flowers to bloom, but here they come up all at once, with an explosive energy. That's what I wanted to capture.’
