artist: Ann Veronica Janssens
located in: Bennebroek,
client: De Geestgronden

In her work Ann Veronica Janssens often disorients the viewer’s perception. What is this? Does this belong here? At the same time the viewer’s experience of the location is intensified. Coloured Fog Project is a likewise work. On the grounds surrounding the classical psychiatric institution, De Geestgronden, a cloud of fog occasionally appears, making its way across the property.

Ann Veronica Janssens
Coloured Fog Project

photo: Joke Stoute

De Geestgronden is a mental health care organization whose oldest establishment is the classical psychiatric hospital in Bennebroek. The complex originates from the 1930’s and was built in moderated art deco style. Its particularly beautiful pavilions are located around a central pond and flower garden.
Ann Veronica Janssens imagined a work of art in the form of a cloud that would interact with the two ponds on the property. Reminiscent of the ‘works of fog’ that she previously made in enclosed and often museological spaces, it is now in Bennebroek’s park that, a few times a day, an actual cloud is seen to appear. It is a low-hanging cloud made of concentrated fog which is usually white and sometimes pink. The cloud appears unannounced, then blows away and disappears, only to reappear later.
The work of Ann Veronica Janssens distances itself from the usual expectations regarding a work of art. Her art is made up of modest interventions that serve to emphasize or to throw new light on the features of an existing situation or location.

’De Geestgronden’ Rijksstraatweg 113 in Bennebroek (for an itinerary, see: www.geestgronden.nl)