Lost Koan, 2007
250 x 150 cm base diameter
Glass reinforced polyester, Perspex, motorised drive and fluorescent lights
Lijn’s first series of Koans were made in 1969. In order to make them, she had to have a mould made and, therefore, made three Koans of the same size, 5’6” (168cm) high and 40” (101.5cm) base diameter; Anti-gravity Koan, Space Displace Koan and Exit Matter Koan. Space Displace Koan is now in the Tate Collection and both Anti-gravity Koan and Exit Matter Koan were purchased by the Boissonas family for their sculpture collection in Flaine, France.
In the late 1990’s Lijn decided to revisit the Koans, changing both the scale and the angle of the cone. Zero Gravity Koan and Lost Koan are the result.
The title Lost Koan refers to an interview Liliane Lijn had in 2005 during her NASA residency at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. Lijn interviewed astrophysicist and renowned expert on the Aurora Borealis, Dr. Stephen B. Mende.
Lijn was fascinated by the visual thoughts arrayed upon his whiteboard and asked him to explain their meaning. His explanation was fascinating, and surprisingly connected to her own work, when he referred to the space above the poles where the solar wind meets with the earth’s magnetic field as ‘the lost cone’.
