Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden
From the façade of the parking garage of Museum Naturalis, two six-meter-high, insect eyes gaze down at the world below. They are based on the compound or mosaic eye of the Meriansborstel, a Dutch moth found in the Naturalis collection and named after the 17th-century naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian.
Each eye consists of hundreds of transparent acrylic facets with a dichroic film. The compound eyes capture and reflect daylight in constantly shifting colors. This creates a luminous, vibrant organism that contrasts with the corten steel of the façade.
The artwork draws attention to the often-overlooked world of insects. In their fragility and beauty, they form an essential yet endangered part of life on Earth. The eyes are not merely passive objects to look at – they look back. They give shape to an attentive, light-sensitive creature that responds to its surroundings, changes with the sun, and evokes an awareness that even the smallest life is valuable.
Dim. tww eyes of 6.00 x 3.90 x 2.20 m
Steel, acrylic and dichroic film
View credits
Thanks to Joep Stolp, ChameleonLAB, Museum Naturalis, Mila Baumann, Denis Bacal, Femto Engineering, and Mondriaan Fonds.
Video by Jeanne van der Horst
Photography by Gerdien Wolthaus Paauw
