Jean Glibert
"Untitled"
Hotel de Ligne / Brussels / 2004
The first achievement carried out on the advice of the Parliament's Works of Art Committee, Jean Glibert's intervention profoundly changed the spatial sensitivity of the Hôtel de Ligne entrance hall. Rather than seeking to harmonize with the characteristics of the place as it stood, the artist worked and profoundly changed its meaning. It is necessary to recognize the peculiarities both formal of the site - all in width (17 x 4.90 m) and devoid of direct natural light - as functional: waiting room and passageway towards the atrium, the elevators and part of the offices. Glibert developed its intervention by incorporating a large number of parameters, including changes to the lighting and the color of the walls to be whiter than the original. The two sheets of tempered glass placed perfectly vis-à-vis the side walls encompass the entire space. On one side, the enamel plate with a deep blue has been truly integrated into the ceiling. It’s a mirror. While enlarging the space, it absorbs more than it reflects the image of the hall, of those who are there and, behind, of the other glass here hanging on the wall and squared in nine rectangles delimited by a black line which also closes the whole of the composition. The artist conceived it as a repertoire of vibrant colors ... primary colors, black, green, white, but also fluorescent, metallic and reflective hues.