Nasher Sculpture Center"Genus and Species became the first exhibition organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center to present the work of a living artist. Two versions of Plensa’s illuminated sculpture The Long Night (from Ausias March to Vicent Andrés Estellés) were installed outside the museum on Flora Street for the exhibition, and they have remained there since, their distinctive, ever-changing glow becoming a beloved fixture of the Arts District.
The Long Night presents both body and sculpture as a source of energy and vehicle for communication. Perched high above the street, the figures act as beacons, emitting a mysterious message in a shower of changing light. The title refers to two great Valencian poets, Ausias March and Vicent Andrés Estellés, and derives from an Estellés poem that characterizes the poet as a sentinel: And you will hunger and you will thirst, You will not be able to write poems And you will stay silent throughout the night While your people still sleep, And you alone will be awake, And you will be awake for all of them. You were not born to sleep: You were born to stay awake in the long night of your people. You will be their living word, Their living word so bitter. Presenting two different versions of The Long Night, differing only in the rate at which the lights change colors, creates a sort of dialogue between them, highlighting the themes of communication and duality that run throughout Plensa’s work."