SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION

2016
Galería NAC
Santiago, Chile

It remains on your retina.

In Indigenous cultures, the reflection of the stars fulfilled a ritual and magical function. In a bowl filled with water, acting as a mirror, they saw reproduced — as if on a screen — a miniature copy of the sky. In this exhibition, you will encounter light and reflections of light: visual information processed and reacted to within the interior of your eye.

The interpretation of images — whether two-dimensional or three-dimensional — depends on your experience, knowledge, and emotional state. The liquid element is present both metaphorically, through suggested forms, and literally. Scaffolds of light appear to float in space. Skeletons, compositions. A narrative constructed through specters.

Illusory reflections drift in flux.

In De Rivus, the first solo exhibition of David Scognamiglio at Galería NAC, we encounter reflections and reflections of reflections. Streams of light that deviate. The drift of a river. They appear like creations generated through technology. Yet the digital origin of these images is not pure. They are photographs of light, and in the case of the installation, a sculpture of light. Perhaps it is precisely this “analog” presence that gives rise to the sensation of calm, suspension, and meditation.

You close your eyes, and the light still flickers — like an indelible memory, like a reflection of the past, like a premonition.

— Juan José Santos, critic and curator