Workshop: Sarkis Zabunyan
Colors in Water is a site-specific installation by Sarkis (b. 1938, Istanbul, Turkey), who has lived and worked in Paris since 1964. Centred on a circular wooden table surrounded by bowls of water, the work unfolds through the actions of Sarkis’s “Angels”—assistants who introduce coloured pigments into the water, creating translucent fields of colour that shift and dissolve.
Developed through workshops, these ephemeral compositions embody what Sarkis describes as the “infinite fractions of light”, foregrounding colour, water and collaboration as acts of creation. The resulting compositions are transferred to a secondary site, or Shrine, which extends the installation beyond the workshops and the original location. More than a place of display, the Shrine carries the memory of their creation into another setting, connecting different places and communities through shared experiences of colour, memory and presence.
The work reflects Sarkis’s broader practice, which brings together installation, painting, architecture and found materials to explore memory, displacement and the transmission of ideas across cultures and generations.
Sarkis is an Armenian-Turkish artist who has lived and worked in Paris since 1964. Trained in painting and interior design, he works across installation, painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and video. His practice explores memory, displacement, colour, light and the transmission of knowledge, connecting personal histories with art history and diverse cultural traditions.
Using objects, materials and environments, Sarkis creates connections across time and cultures. Influenced by artists such as Joseph Beuys, he approaches art as an exchange through which memory and experience are continually reinterpreted and passed between generations. He has also contributed to art education, directing the art department at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg (1980–1990) and leading seminars at the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques in Paris (1988–1995).
Sarkis has participated in major international exhibitions, including When Attitudes Become Form (1969), Documenta VI and VII (1977, 1982), and numerous international biennales. In 2015, he presented Respiro at the Turkish Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. His work has been exhibited at Centre Pompidou, MAMCO, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, MAXXI, Istanbul Modern and Musée du Quai Branly. Recent exhibitions include Infiniment croisement des détails avec sa mesure en lumière and Gillet et compagnie at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris (2025).
Year: 2009
Artist: Sarkis Zabunyan
Commissioned by: Beppu Project NPO
Festival: Beppu Contemporary Art Festival: Mixed Bathing World Triennale
Producer: Junya Yamaide
Director: Takashi Serizawa
Assistant Director: Keith Whittle
Format: Site-specific installation
Location: Oita, Japan
Country: Japan