Patricia Domínguez Chilean, b. 1984

Domínguez’s first feature-length film, Tres Lunas más Abajo [Three Moons Below], presents a crossover of spiritual and quantum realms. The particle accelerators of CERN and radiotelescopes in the Atacama collide with ancient petroglyphs in the surrounding desert to act as portals for the video’s protagonists: a woman and her robotic bird companion. Together, they enter theoretical space, consulting with mystical beings and machines on their multidimensional journey.

For the exhibition at Cecilia Brunson Projects, the film is housed within a shrine-like installation inspired by the architecture of CERN’s Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, a particle detector that comprises a gigantic golden chamber filled with liquid argon. The robotic eagles from the film flank the entrance to the gallery like gatekeepers, marking our crossing into the artist’s hybrid world. Laser-eyed and fitted with motion detectors, they chirp and scan the room as visitors enter.

Around the gallery walls, the acrylic installation takes on the form of the petroglyphs featured in the film, carved into the floor of the Atacama, as Domínguez closes the perceived distance between these ancient records, documenting moon cycles and life in the desert, and the modern observatories nearby.