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Experimentation in material environments accessed through the most advanced scientific imaging instruments is the starting point in Enigma, the recent work of Sigurður Guðjónsson. An electron microscope scans a fragment of carbon providing a view of what is commonly beyond the reach of the human eye. The scale achieved by this procedure is unusual in human terms, however, through the scientific instrument a physical surface magnified up to a million times its size is revealed on the screen. In the gallery the viewer thus becomes the observer of an environment that could seem familiar, yet offers us an alien view, close to the landscapes of Mars photographed by the rovers, or images from the depths of ocean chasms. Enigma is built on the basis of a non-linear narrative, based on a visual simulation made up of vibrations and rhythms that exist on the smallest imaginable scale. The images captured on the screen encapsulate a visual composition of the events that emerged from the particle beams. The advanced scientific imaging instrument allows us access to a quadrant of nature that remains commonly hidden. And despite the precision that anchors the experiment it seems that the artist himself would want to abandon control of the composition and act only as an observer.

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Mónica Bello, curator

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