about.

For its first solo show in Italy VICTORIA VESNA, one of the most prominent and innovative artists working in the field of advanced technologies and multimedia art, presents her recent work: NANOMANDALA, realised in collaboration with nano-science pioneer James Gimzewski, and a group of Tibetan monks.

NANOMANDALA is visually powerful installation that consists of a video projected onto a disk of sand, presenting an image of mandala, a cosmic diagram and ritualistic symbol of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism. Mandala can be translated from Sanskrit as “whole”, “circle” or “zero”.

In this interactive work visitors can touch the sand as images are projected in evolving scale from the molecular structure of a single grain of sand—achieved my means of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM)—to the recognizable image of the complete mandala, and then back again. This coming together of art, science and technology is a modern interpretation of an ancient tradition that consecrates the planet and its inhabitants to bring about purification and healing.

The sand mandala of Chakrasamvara seen in this installation was created by Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gaden Lhopa Khangtsen Monastery in India, in conjunction with the “Circle of Bliss” and “NANO” exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. To complement the video, sound artist Anne Niemetz has developed a meditative soundscape derived from sounds recorded during the creative process of making the sand mandala.

Of the installation the artist, Victoria Vesna, says: “Inspired by watching the nano-scientist at work, purposefully arranging atoms just as the monk laboriously creates sand images grain by grain, this work brings together the Eastern and Western minds through their shared process centred on patience. Both cultures use these bottom-up building practices to create a complex picture of the world from extremely different perspectives.”

NANOMANDALA makes part of NANO the larger project, realised at LACMA: an exhibition that seeks to provide a greater understanding of how art, science, culture and technology influence each other. Within this show modular, experiential spaces are using embedded computing technologies to engage all of the senses in order to provoke a broader understanding of nanoscience and its cultural ramifications. The various components of “nano” are designed to immerse the visitor in the radical shifts of scale and sensory modes that characterize nanoscience, which works on the scale of a billionth of a meter. Participants can feel what it is like to manipulate atoms one by one and experience nano-scale structures by engaging in art-making activities.

Studio Stefania Miscetti thanks for the collaboration: American Academy in Rome

Read and download the exhibition’s press release.

works.

here below are some images from VICTORIA VESNA’s nanomandala.