Work in situ

"The notion of work in situ which Daniel Buren has used to define his artistic activity since 1965, signifies that the artwork is born out of the space in which it is created. Alongside this, he carried out pictorial experiments and swiftly noted that "the environment of the painting ... always seems more rich and important than the painting itself."

But the crucial nature of the setting is very often forgotten, ignored or accepted without discussion, in the name of the "so-callled autonomy of the work of art."

Through the concept of the work in situ, he attemps to reverse this relationship, so that it is the work which transforms the setting or, at least, reveals its essential nature.

To achieve this, the work must obey a simple principle : its conception, its manufacture, its method of display must all be worked out and realised on the spot; a method which implies the abandonment of the studio and traditional formats, replaced nine times out of ten by irremovable offerings, which are distroyed at the end of the exhibition ...

Trough an infinity of configurations, in a manner that is more or less évident, lights always becomes part of the installation - hardly à surprise, given the Logic of the work in situ, as our appréciation of à site can be totally transformated by this lights, or its lighting." Daniel Burren, Monumenta 2012 at the Grand Palais, Paris. and Voûte du Grand Palais, Paris, mai 2012.