Véronique Joumard　Hikari no Kehai: The Substance of Light

Exhibition period｜February 13 (Fri) – April 5 (Sun), 2026
*Opening day only｜14:00–19:00
Venue｜MOMENT Contemporary Art Center
Opening hours｜11:00–19:00
Closed｜Mondays and Tuesdays
Organized by｜MUZ ART PRODUCE
In cooperation with｜Villa Kujoyama, Institut français, Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, Art Front Gallery
With special cooperation from｜Mori Manufacturing Research and Technology Foundation
Admission｜Free
Opening reception｜February 13 (Fri), 14:00–19:00
*Artist scheduled to be present

MOMENT Contemporary Art Center is pleased to present Hikari no Kehai: The Substance of Light, a solo exhibition by French artist Véronique Joumard, on view from Friday, February 13 to Sunday, April 5, 2026.

Born in Grenoble in 1964 and based in Paris, Joumard has been active since the mid-1980s, creating works that use light itself as a material and make its mechanisms and flows of energy visible. In recent years she has been actively engaged in projects in public space, including a contemporary stained-glass commission for the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux in Bayeux, France(2013–), a public commission for Line C of the Toulouse Metro (Ligne C du métro de Toulouse, 2022–), and Welcome / Funny Blue at Takamatsu Airport as part of the Setouchi Triennale(2013).

This exhibition, her first substantial solo exhibition in the Kansai region in nearly thirty years since her solo show at the Ashiya City Museum of Art and History in 1998, is structured around the motif of the “window.” It presents a photographic series capturing the light and colors illuminated in buildings at night, alongside a new installation using curtains that treats MOMENT’s entrance glass façade as a single window. In addition, the exhibition introduces images related to her past projects as well as works currently in progress.

Joumard is scheduled to undertake a residency in conjunction with the exhibition from late January to early March. Further details will be announced on MOMENT’s website and social media.

From Symbol to Phenomenon — Experiencing Invisible Light

In the history of art, light has traditionally played a crucial role both as an expression of religious spirituality and as a means of structuring space. The halo or the beam of light from above in religious painting has been depicted as a sign of divine presence or salvation, while doctrine itself has been experienced through the light passing through church stained glass. Incorporated into the pictorial surface as light and shade, light has also served to draw the viewer’s gaze toward the subject, reinforcing narrative and emotion.

By contrast, the light that Joumard works with invites viewers to apprehend it not as a secondary, supporting device, but as a phenomenon that is happening here and now. Often using concrete devices such as light bulbs, resistors, cables and sockets, her works focus on presenting, in their entirety, the physical events by which electricity flows, glare and reflection arise, and the brightness of a space shifts. As she has stated, she seeks “to make light itself and the elements necessary for its appearance visible at the same time”; her aim is not to treat light merely as a precondition for the emergence of artworks or any visual experience, but to present it as a work in its own right.

In recent years, she has been actively developing projects in public space. Notable examples include her ongoing contemporary stained-glass commission for the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux in Bayeux, France (since 2013) and the documentary film that follows its process, a public commission for Line C of the Toulouse Metro (Ligne C du métro de Toulouse), and Welcome / Funny Blue at Takamatsu Airport for the Setouchi Triennale (Takamatsu, Japan).

In Hikari no Kehai: The Substance of Light, her practice, which spans both studio-based works and site-specific projects, is reconfigured through the motif of the “window.” We invite you to experience the new configurations of light and space that Joumard’s works bring into being at MOMENT.




Véronique Joumard
Véronique Joumard was born in Grenoble, France, in 1964 and lives and works in Paris. She graduated from the École supérieure d’Art de Grenoble (now ÉSAD Grenoble–Valence). Professor at the École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy (Paris-Cergy National School of Fine Arts).Working across a wide range of media including photography, sculpture, and installation, she creates devices that make energies such as light and electricity visible, exploring the relationship between the body and space.

Her recent exhibitions include Vertigo (2025, Fondation Carmignac, Île de Porquerolles); Reinventing Landscape, featuring works from the Centre Pompidou collection (2025, West Bund Art Museum, Shanghai); Pump Up, Imaginaires techniques et utopies sociales (2024, Le Grand Café, Saint-Nazaire); Varnelis dans l’hexagone (2024, Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence); Chaleur humaine (2024, FRAC Grand Large, Dunkirk); Amitiés, créativités collectives (2023, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg); Avril (2023, BF15, Lyon); and Paravents, table et couleurs (2022, Gilles Drouault galerie/multiples, Paris).

Her relationship with Japan began in earnest in 1996, when she took part in a residency at Villa Kujoyama, the French government–run artist-in-residence program in Kyoto. That same year, she participated in Hiroshima Art Document ’96 at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work Tsunan, produced between 1999 and 2000, was presented at the inaugural The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in 2000 (Tsunan, Niigata) and has since been permanently installed there. In 2002, she presented the project TGV in Hiroshima. From the 2010s onward, she has continued to present multiple projects in Japan, including Welcome & Funny Blue at Takamatsu Airport for the Setouchi Triennale, and Café de la Plage (Yellow) in 2019 on Megijima Island.

She is currently participating in the curated exhibition In the mood… and the collection exhibition Le Silo at FRAC Normandie Caen (Caen and La Marine). Since 2013, she has been engaged in a project to create contemporary stained-glass windows—becoming the first woman artist to do so—for the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux in France, accompanied by the production of a documentary film. Since 2022, she has also been continuing a public commission for Line C of the Toulouse Metro (Ligne C du métro de Toulouse).

Official Website