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.