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Leonardo Gallery 237 Scientific Delirium Madness 4.0 Gallery Reflecting Sail Javiera Tejerina-Risso When I arrived at the Djerassi residency, it was cold and foggy. For me, California meant sun and swimming pools with their shining reflections, as in Hockney’s paintings . In my studio, I found a stock of fans. “What are they for?” I thought. “It’s summertime and I need a jacket here!” I wanted to continue to work “around the notion of movement, drawing equally on scientific methods and symbolism, where fluid mechanics and the mythologies of insularity are summoned forth to confront us with the effects of nature” [1]—as in one of my latest works, To Record Water During Days, where I propose to represent the interactions of the Earth through the rhythm of the ocean: a 236-inch-long kinetic installation connected to seven buoys in the Pacific Ocean. The new art project was to make metal membranes hover using fans displayed on the floor to create a weightlessness effect. I made several studies with different metals of different sizes and thicknesses, with the unwavering help of Patrice Le Gal, physicist. After doing some research, I discovered Hans Haacke’s masterpiece Blue Sail. In it, a thin blue fabric floats and moves along with the fan’s moving head. I took the aluminum foil from the kitchen and created my first successful floating membrane. The aluminum hovered, as I liked, and it reflected some light. The problem was the uncountable wrinkles and folds of the foil. I then discovered a light, flexible, mirrored polyester film: Mylar. Using this film, I built a 6-×-4-ft membrane that reflected the light as if one were by the pool or the sea, submerging the viewer into a meditative state. In the pitch-black night, I invited the Djerassi residents to the Old Barn, where I had set up my Reflecting Sail installation: a 10-×-8-ft Mylar membrane oscillating with the aid of two fans, illuminated by five flashlights providing light reflections. Musicians Heather Spence and Marco Buongiorno Nardelli composed two soundtracks based on the Mylar, fan and electric generator sounds. Javiera Tejerina-Risso Email: Reference 1 Jean-Christophe Arcos, “Javiera Tejerina and Dieto Ortiz, a Setback [Focus],” Contemporary Point (2017): . Reflecting Sail, installation, Mylar, fans, flashlights, 2017. (© Javiera Tejerina-Risso) ...

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