When the brilliance of light refracts a thousand times by the water [2026]
When the brilliance of light refracts a thousand times by the water
Kinetic installation with light and glass, 2026
Nicky Assmann
On view till the 14th of June 2026 at Dordrechts Museum
Water & Light exhibition at Dordrechts Museum
As part of the two-part exhibition Water & Light, the Dordrechts Museum presents a brand-new light installation by Nicky Assmann, specially created for this exhibition. This monumental work, titled When the brilliance of light refracts a thousand times by the water, is on view as part of a two-part show in which Nicky Assmann offers a contemporary take on the 19th-century paintings of J.M.W. Turner. Like Turner (1775–1851), Assmann (1980) explores natural phenomena such as water and light. Whereas Turner paints nature on canvas or paper, Assmann takes the audience into a spatial landscape full of swirling colours, using light, movement, and technology. In her new installation, she works with glass for the first time. A meter-wide circle of color appears as a luminous celestial body, suspended in the darkness, within a cinematic setting featuring light projections and reflections. The work evokes associations with a deserted planet [perhaps Earth itself?] under the influence of climate change. Assmann invites visitors to reflect on nature and our place within it.
Sound vibrations from the deep sea and the universe.
In this new work, Assmann employed numerous experiments. Together with glass master Rahmi Schulz of Derix Glasstudios, she imbued her fictional planet with texture and color through chemical processes and natural pigments. She tilted the glass to allow colours to bleed and incorporated sound vibrations from the deep sea and the universe. To do this, she created a modern day version of the Eidophone [an instrument that converts sound into images] in homage to the 19th-century inventor and vocal artist Margaret Watts Hughes. Among other things, Assmann used whale song and the sound of the sun to create the landscape on the glass. The result is a large scale installation in which nature and culture, light and water, time and space, sound and image converge. Just like Turner, Assmann combines the beauty and sublimity of nature, but now in a three-dimensional experience: a poetic perspective on ecological threats and the vulnerability of humanity in the 21st century.
Other works
The exhibition also features other light installations by Assmann, including the monumental kinetic sculpture The Abysses of the Scorching Sun, which returns to the Netherlands after a series of international presentations. This sculpture, shaped like a telescope or 'solar cannon', moves in real time with the sun’s path and reflects the light directly back: it fills the space and bathes the audience in a warm glow.
Also on view are Liquid Solid, a video installation made together with artist Joris Strijbos, showing a freezing soap film in an Arctic landscape; Solaris, a kinetic soap film sculpture in which a physical soap film unfolds as a turbulent choreography, reflecting the subtle air currents created by the audience’s breath; and new works including Magenta Landscapes, Inframince and Zilversteen [Silver Stone]
The two-part exhibition Water & Light explores how artists throughout the centuries have remained fascinated by the elements of water and light. What took shape in the seventeenth century through Aelbert Cuyp and other Dutch painters continues in this exhibition, from Turner to the contemporary work of Nicky Assmann.
Credits
When the brilliance of light refracts a thousand times by the water, 2026.
Kinetic installation with light and glass | Nicky Assmann
| created in collaboration with master glassmaker Rahmi Schulz, Derix Glass Studios, Spectro Productions, Jeroen Molenaar, Joris Strijbos, Marco Broeders, Levtec, Fiction Factory |
When the brilliance of light refracts a thousand times by the water was made possible with the generous support from the Mondriaan Fund and Fonds 21.
Photo by Aad van Hoogendoorn