Alexandre de Betak presents Truss Light Sculptures 01 at Salon 94 Design in New York
Alexandre de Betak presents Truss Light Sculptures 01, his first exhibition and first solo show in New York, at Salon 94 Design. Opened on November 5, 2026, the exhibition brings together twelve works across two rooms, examining the relationship between industrial structures, artificial light, and sculptural form. Drawing on more than three decades of experience creating fashion shows and large-scale productions, de Betak turns the technical equipment traditionally hidden behind these environments into the subject of his artistic practice.
Trusses and stage lights, once used to support temporary spectacles, become independent objects with a physical presence beyond their original function. The exhibition marks a transition in de Alexandre de Betak’s career, following his decision to step away from the fashion production company Bureau Betak in 2023 to concentrate on art. His familiarity with theatrical infrastructure informs the proportions and construction of the sculptures, while the use of contrasting materials introduces questions of permanence, transformation, and the changing identity of functional objects.
The exhibition is organized into two distinct series. In the gallery’s contemporary space, Alexandre de Betak works with genuine aluminum trusses and theatrical lighting equipment, assembling them into large-scale freestanding and wall-mounted compositions. Their exposed structures retain the recognizable geometry of stage installations, with interconnected metal sections and integrated lighting elements. In the historic Beaux-Arts Stone Room, similar forms are recreated in bronze, replacing the lightweight industrial material with one traditionally associated with sculpture and monuments. Produced at a French foundry, each bronze work undergoes an extensive process of molding, casting, sandblasting, and polishing, with more than twenty molds required for a single sculpture.
Light introduces another dimension to the twelve works. Prismatic glass and custom-programmed illumination allow the sculptures to alternate between different visual states, changing their relationship with the surrounding architecture. Four lighting sequences, titled Glowing, Breathing, Sparkling, and Dancing, create variations in intensity, rhythm, and movement, including responses to sound. The settings are operated through a specially designed wireless terminal, available in aluminum and bronze, featuring a luminosity meter inspired by the interface of vintage audio equipment. Through these programmed transitions, the sculptures function as both physical objects and responsive light installations.
Truss Light Sculptures 01 also marks Alexandre de Betak’s first collaboration with Salon 94 Design founder Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. Established in 2017, the gallery operates from a historic townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, originally designed by Ogden Codman and later modernized by Rafael Viñoly. Its approach to presenting objects across art and design provides a setting for works that occupy both disciplines. The aluminum sculptures are unique pieces, while each of the three bronze designs is produced in an edition of three, accompanied by two artist’s proofs.
The New York exhibition follows a series of installations through which Alexandre de Betak has investigated the possibilities of light and spatial perception. In 2025, he transformed his London studio into an environment of mirrors and industrial lighting during Frieze London. Earlier in 2026, he presented Chashitsu Hikari Schürli, a site-specific light installation inside a traditional Swiss barn during Gstaad Art Week. His presentation at Salon 94 Design extends these investigations through objects intended to endure beyond the temporary environments that originally informed them. Returning to the city where he lived and worked for more than two decades, de Betak gives architectural and sculptural significance to the equipment that once remained out of sight.
Photography by Tom de Peyret, shared with permission
