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Biographical Notes

Denise Lira-Ratinoff

During the last eight years, Denise Lira-Ratinoff has explored the interaction between humans and nature through installations that create temporary experiences intended to establish a closeness with nature. Her work is presented as an encounter between photography, video, organic materials and direct contact with the space, a constant awakening of the senses.

She has received numerous awards including the 1999 Best Young Artist of the Year, Chile. Denise’s works are included in public and private collections in Europe, North America and South America. She has held individual exhibitions in Chile, Peru, Cuba, United States and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, El Salvador, Mexico, United States and Switzerland. 2008, Openmade published a Photography book of her latest Glaciers Series and her recent photo-installation At Fisrt Sight II was named “Best Art Event of the Year” by Creative Loafing best of Atlanta. Denise was born in Chile and currently lives and works in United States and Chile.

In Chile, one of the most emblematic installations took place in 2000. In collaboration with video artist Isabel Garcia, Denise Lira-Ratinoff created Art for the Sighted, KM 9 Route 68, an installation placed close to the airport and along the highway. The installation was seen at high speed from the connector, from cars arriving or departing the city and from the planes taking off and landing. Art for the Sighted, KM 9 Route 68 was based on the principle of visual perception, understanding and association of reality; the subject was to relate the image and the reality as the work itself with the place.

Utilizing architectural elements, it poses a game of perceptual relationships between the territory and the ones that function within it. The project was a triptych that consisted of an enormous straw house made of 5000 bails of a geometric volume of 20 square meters and two billboards of 12 meters by 4 meters each with 4 photographic images generating in the spectator a reflection between the “image and the imaginary”.

Later, amongst boldo modules (a tropical herb that only blossoms at night) and total darkness in one of the spaces at Museo Casa Colorada (Red House Museum), in Santiago, Chile, Denise Lira-Ratinoff presented a new installation named Nicatgenias (flowers that only open in the dark). This was an installation based exclusively on the senses of smell and touch. In the form of bricks, it was built of four large walls the size of the entire room, allowing only a narrow walkway to be traversed through the perimeter and for the spectator to encounter a massive wall of boldo bails, disallowing any other view. There was a great vacuum in the space, but it was contained by the scent. The intention was to make us re-direct our perception, exploring plastically seldom-touched territories.

It was through this project, that Denise Lira-Ratinoff was invited to present her photo-installation Chepica-Bermuda in Lima, Peru, utilizing photographs, videos and Bermuda grass. Its objective was to establish a rapport between nature and culture, observing the vegetable versatility with all of its senses and confronting the simplicity of things. The monotony and monochromatic shape of this element, induces recognition of the strength of nature. The intense scent of the earth within a given light space transports us to a special frame of mind, quiet, sensitive and makes us want to travel through memories and sensations.

After experimenting with several organic matters and interacting not only with the audience, but as well having a constant dialogue between nature and the use of new technologies, Denise Lira-Ratinoff presented her new proposal at first sight. These are direct and precise images that deal with universal elements and need no translation.

at first sight

at first sight was envisioned on a search to discover the senses through the emotions of a first glance. It is a meeting of the senses produced by facing the unpredicted. We absorb the observation and the memory of the unpredicted becomes part of ourselves. Sometimes, we look without observing and neglect to see the world around us and consequently we fail to see within ourselves. at first sight, invites the viewer to experience an unfamiliar place. The viewer is lead from one image to the next and finally to an imaginary image which allows for an encounter with a visual perception stemming from memory.

at first sight II

at first sight II is a trilogy of time, space and audience, presented on three different platforms: a website, a site-specific photo-installation and a book. Through photographs of melting and receding glaciers, this project witnesses the immense environmental devastation that is occurring on our planet. The intention of at first sight II is to revisit these environments as they melt into the past and question the public awareness of the importance of time, life and death. With the use of a variety of technologies, the main focus of this multi-disciplinary project is to combine these platforms to explore different venues all over the globe. These technologies allow for an ongoing project that grows as the audiences become more interested in the subject. The concept of interaction is what keeps at first sight II alive. It is based on the belief that through combining a variety of media, the audience can form their own interpretations through the awareness of all the senses.

Brief description:

Photography Book by Denise Lira-Ratinoff

16:03:27

Hardcover; Publisher: Openmade

ISBN: 978-956-319-249-0

16:03:27, a 300 copy limited edition book. Each copy is numbered and signed by the artist Denise Lira-Ratinoff. This book explores the concept of time and questions the public awareness of the importance of time through images of glaciers. Drawn and sculpted by the ocean and the wind, these dramatic natural shapes immortalized by photography will never be captured again. They are ephemeral witnesses of receding and disappearing ice fields. Not knowing for how long is the mystery of time. At the crossroad where life and death meet and from a different perspective, this book invites us to see what will no longer exist and what already has melted.