molecular cloud takes flight on the coast of normandy
French artist Vincent Leroy presents a new iteration of his Molecular Cloud installation, a kinetic mirror sculpture that appears to float at the junction of land, sea, and heaven. Following its debut at the Coachella Festival in 2023, this more compact metallic version takes shape on a beach in Normandy. Its reflective stainless steel orbs capture the shifting light and movement of the surrounding landscape, transforming the natural environment into a moving, dreamlike, and poetic vision of reality.
all images courtesy of Vincent Leroy
vincent leroy continues his exploration of mirrored mobiles
The artist, best known for testing his mobile creations in the great outdoors, this time choses a beach in Normandy, in the north of France, as the setting for his latest project. As its elements are set in motion, Molecular Cloud becomes an enigmatic metallic cloud slowly undulating in a fluid and continuous movement. Its spectacular deformations generate strange and organic shapes that seem to echo the sky, cloudy and ever-changing.
The stainless steel orbs intricately capture the slightest variations, darkening or, on the contrary, sparkling depending on the variations in brightness. ‘The closer we get, the more the boundaries between the installation and the environment blur,’ says Vincent Leroy. Its mirrored surfaces diffract the horizon and repeat it endlessly, as the landscape is reflected in a phantasmagorical and moving vision which exacerbates the dramatic atmosphere of the site. This dialogue between reality and imagination is essential to the artist who declares: ‘I like my works to be part of the real world, while giving another perception, by bringing a poetic or dreamlike dimension.’
Vincent Leroy presents a new iteration of his Molecular Cloud installation
the work is envisioned as a cloud between heaven and earth
its mirrored forms offer infinite reflections
the cloud echoes the dramatic sky of Normandy
the kinetic mirror sculpture appears to float at the junction of land, sea, and heaven
‘I like my works to be part of the real world, while giving another perception,’ says Vincent Leroy
project info:
name: Molecular Cloud
artist: Vincent Leroy | @vincent_leroy_studio
location: Normandy, France
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edited by: ravail khan | designboom
