Javiera Tejerina-Risso’s residency project takes flight with new funding for POLARIS, a transdisciplinary exploration of science, power, and the stars.
We’re excited to share that Javiera Tejerina-Risso, the inaugural artist-in-residence for our Quantum Studio program in 2023, has received funding to realize the project she began developing during her time at the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Her new project, POLARIS, is an ambitious interdisciplinary undertaking that will culminate in a “landscape installation” blending artistic research with questions of navigation, power, and planetary understanding.
Building on work she began at QMI, POLARIS interrogates how tools of scientific discovery, particularly those tied to navigation and astronomy, have historically intertwined with imperial domination and the reshaping of worldviews. The project connects stars, quantum physics, Indigenous sciences, and hemispheric exchanges between Europe and the Americas. You can learn more about it here.
Early creations from Polaris: Used copper gaskets from QMI’s UHV chambers, each imprinted with the memory of containment and collected by artist Javiera Tejerina-Risso during her residency, feature in early imagery for her new project, Polaris.