Chapel of Remorse

Jani Leinonen
Chapel of Remorse
Feb 16–Mar 16, 2019
Stalla Madulain

This February Finnish artist Jani Leinonen turns the over 500 year old barn Stalla Madulain in Switzerland, into a breath-taking chapel of light and offers the viewers almost a transcendental experience.

The art pilgrims of the world have a new destination in Switzerland as Jani Leinonen’s Chapel of Remorse plugs into the same pious energies of art sanctums such as Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin in Blanton Museum, Olafur Eliasson’s Rainbow Panorama in Aarhus and Rothko Chapel in Houston.

Leinonen has harnessed the barn’s old features, the arched windows, the cathedral-like hight, and in collaboration with the worlds best glass blowers in Munich, converts the space into a dramatic yet serene spectacle of light. Given the stained glass technique’s association with religion Leinonen’s chapel does convey a sense of divinity, but the space feels no more like a house of god than it does a place of worship to the sun, nature or humanity.