Newcastle University

Liliane Lijn, well known for her visionary work with text, light and movement, has made works using new materials at the cutting edge of technology and science since the 1960s. Lijn’s practice is primarily concerned with light in its relation to matter. She likes to think of matter, as described by David Bohm, as ‘frozen or condensed light’. This talk will focus on the ideas that generated her three significant installations of the 1980s, currently on exhibition at the mima gallery in Middlesbrough until 28 February 2013. These works, Cosmic Dramas, conceived after the completion and publication of her epic poem Crossing Map, published by Thames & Hudson, are imbued with a new spectacular feminism, bridging art and drama, underpinned by a profoundly dark philosophical premise connecting the repressed female archetype to the industrial military complex. Lijn will explore the connections between Cosmic Dramas and her early works with light and text, her recent works both as resident artist at Culture Lab at the Newcastle University and at NASA’s Space Sciences Laboratories, and works with Aerogel in dialogue with scientists from the Stardust Project.

Liliane Lijn was born in New York and now lives in London. Internationally exhibited since the 1960s, her works are held in numerous collections including Tate London, the British Museum, the V&A and FNAC in Paris. Lijn is best known for her work with language (Poem Machines, 1962) and light (Liquid Reflections, 1967 and Koans, 1969–2009). During her ACE/NASA-funded Space Sciences Laboratory residency in 2005, Lijn began working with Aerogel, a material developed by NASA scientists to collect interstellar dust.

Recent exhibitions include Light Years at Sir John Soane’s Museum and the Riflemaker gallery; Gallery One, New Vision Centre, Signals and Indica at Tate Britain; United Enemies at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, and Republic of the Moon/Moon Futures at FACT Liverpool. Liliane’s 1960’s Poem Machines are currently featured in the Museum of Modern Art, NY exhibition Ecstatic Alphabets/Heaps of Language. This year’s public commissions and installations include Solar Beacon, two heliostats on the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge for its 75th anniversary and Light Pyramid, commissioned by Park Trust and MK Gallery as a beacon for the Queen’s Jubilee, Milton Keynes. For more details about Liliane Lijn’s work, please see: www.lilianelijn.com