Kimsooja, "To Breathe" at Saint-Étienne cathedral, Metz
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Kimsooja, To Breathe
Permanent stained glass installation commissioned on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz
Inauguration 18 September 2022
Metz, France
After Kimsooja's exhibition at Centre Pompidou Metz (2015-16), the Metz Cathedral becomes a new passage to continue her artistic quest. For this project, she chose the south transom of Saint-Étienne Cathedral, which also houses stained glass windows by Marc Chagall and others, for an intervention in which sixteen bay windows with two lancets each were transformed with the Obangsaek colour spectrum – bright, plain colours closely related to the five cardinal directions. Kimsooja wanted to preserve the original pattern whilst using a repetition of colours to create a timeless and dimensional painting that brings together medieval architecture. Together with glassmaker Pierre Parot, the choice was made to combine different glass techniques: traditionally blown and dichroic industrial, which allows the light to fill the space in the most natural way, which the viewer finds themselves amid.
For more information, visit www.800-cathedrale.metz.fr/en/evenements/unveiling-of-the-contemporary-stained-glass-windows
