125 x 185mm, 192 pages, full colour, perfect bound, 2020

The first Apollo moon landing. Jumbo, the elephant. The films of Chris Marker. The belly buttons of Adam and Eve. The story of the Utah teapot. The gaze of thermal vision. The virtual gamespace of ‘Journey’. The downloadable NASA 3D archive. The romantic landscapes of the American west. Toy Story and The Little Mermaid. The first video uploaded on YouTube. The nature of disguise.

Moving across personal anecdotes, moments in history, cultural memory, and scientific did-you-knows, Still Life -mirrors and windows- takes the reader on a virtual journey across a range of sights and sites. At once factual and speculative, poetic and analytical, Still Life is a window that reflects and a mirror that pierces through - a gentle companion to our endless search for the limits of understanding.

Mario Santanilla’s practice explores the optics of being. Guided by research on architecture, light-based technologies, and storytelling, he explores how these devices condition behavior and represent social realities. Santanilla has previously participated in ‘March Project’ at Sharjah Art Foundation (Sharjah, 2019), ‘Home Workspace Programme’ at Ashkal Alwan (Beirut, 2017–2018), and ‘Escuela Flora’ at Flora ars+natura (Bogotá, 2016). He holds a BFA from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, (Bogotá, 2015).

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