The museum of the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels presents two contemporary art projects by Adrien Lucca and Laure Winants in its permanent museum galleries.
Developed in close collaboration with the institute’s scientists and inspired by the institute’s research and collections, the works invite you to look at environmental issues from a different perspective.
Instead of using scientific instruments or data alone, the artists use light, color and living materials to explore ecological challenges such as light pollution, ocean health and human impact on natural systems. The works make invisible processes visible and help transform complex scientific questions into experiences that can be seen, felt, and discussed by visitors of all ages.
ABOUT THE PROJECTS & ARTISTS
Adrien Lucca — The Blue Hour
In collaboration with scientists Marko Ilic (University of Ljubljana), Colas Schretter (VUB), and Aiman Ali Raza (INSERM)
In this installation, Adrien Lucca explores how insects perceive light differently from humans. He presents a living indoor garden illuminated by custom-built LED systems that simulate twilight conditions. The work reveals how nocturnal pollinators, such as hawk moths (Deilephila elpenor), rely on color contrasts between flowers and leaves to navigate and feed – contrasts that can be disrupted by artificial LED lighting. By alternating between lighting states, the installation makes visible the impact of light pollution on pollinator ecosystems, using real, living plants that visitors can closely experience.
Adrien Lucca (°1983, Paris) is a Brussels-based artist and researcher working with light, color, and living systems. His practice spans installations, luminous sculptures, monumental glass works, drawings, and hybrid environments developed at the intersection of artistic experimentation, scientific research, and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Working across studios, laboratories, glass workshops, and public sites, he investigates how light acts in natural and built environments, and what distinguishes human from animal vision. His projects combine sensory experience with rigorous spectral methods—developing tools such as light synthesizers and models as a shared language between art, science, and engineering.
Laure Winants — Future Fossils
In collaboration with scientists Louise Delhaye, Michaël Fettweis and Jean-Philippe Beillard (The Institute of Natural Sciences) and Raquel Leo Doval (Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute)
Future Fossils investigates how the ocean can leave material traces of its condition and history. During several expeditions to the North Sea, Laure Winants developed acid- and light-sensitive paper that reacts directly to seawater. During dives in the water column, these surfaces are activated through contact with the water’s chemical composition, capturing interactions within marine ecosystems. The resulting prints are not images of the sea, but physical traces left by the sea itself. They refer to the origins of life on Earth, in the depths of the benthic zone.
At the heart of the installation, a work continues to evolve within the museum. It is sensitive to its surroundings and gradually responds to the exhibition conditions and the presence of viewers. In doing so, it slowly produces the trace of a fossil from the future.
Laure Winants (°1991, Verviers) is a visual artist and researcher based between Paris and Brussels. Her practice is grounded in long-term, transdisciplinary collaborations with scientific institutions, through which she explores the intersections of art, ecology, and environmental data. She has worked closely with research teams such as CNRS–LSCE to investigate atmospheric pollution (microplastic, carbon black) in the Pyrenees (Albedo, 2021), the Volcanology Laboratory in Iceland to examine natural and anthropogenic phenomena including volcanic activity (Phenomena, 2022), and the Polar Institute on polar research through her ongoing project Time Capsule (2022–2025), which focuses on air bubbles explored through the prism of light. With her new project Future Fossils, she descends into the abyss, collaborating with the ocean. Combining anticipatory narration, fiction, and living archives, she translates deep time into colors.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Location: The museum of the Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, 1000 Brussels
Opening hours:
Mon: closed
Tue-Fri: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat-Sun: 10:00 a.m.-6 p.m.
Tickets: Available soon via the museum of the Institute of Natural Sciences
