Mirror of Insight
Javier Rieira
High above the garden, the former water reservoir once formed the heart of the historic water supply system. Water – an essential element of the Baroque garden – was channelled through the entire grounds via cascades and fountains. Where water once flowed, Javier Riera now lets light and geometry flow.
“Light is not an end in itself. It reveals relationships that are already there.”
This luminous stream connects with the history of the garden without staging or illustrating it. Instead, the natural space is given an artistic structure that opens our eyes to what might otherwise remain hidden.
In Javier Riera’s work, geometry, architecture and landscape come together in a poetic way. The Spanish artist responds to the structures of a particular site and makes them visible through geometric forms – as he does in the Schwarzenberg Garden.
Spotlight
from Idea to Artwork
For your work in the Schwarzenberg Garden, you chose a very special location – a former water reservoir high above the garden. What drew you to this place?
At first, I was fascinated by the history of the site. Learning that the garden’s water reservoir was once located here completely changed my perception of the place.
In the past, water was channelled from here throughout the entire garden. That water is no longer present today, but its history remains embedded in the site. This memory interests me.
My installation does not replace the water – it takes up its movement. In place of the flow of water, there is now a flow of light and geometry. I immediately found this idea very poetic.
At the same time, visitors do not arrive at this place by accident. They have to walk up to it, discover it and, in a way, seek out the installation. This experience of discovery is also part of the work.
The Schwarzenberg Garden combines elements of Baroque garden design with those of an English landscape garden. Does this particular situation play a role in your work?
Yes, very much so.
I am interested in the fact that this place exists between different ideas of nature. On the one hand, there is the Baroque concept of order and geometry; on the other, the freer form of the English landscape garden.
The Belvedere also plays an important role in this context. It is an extraordinary building, but its true power lies not only in its architecture, but also in the works of art it houses.
This creates a place full of tensions and relationships: art and nature, history and the present, architecture and landscape. I see my work as part of this dialogue.
So you are also making something invisible visible again?
Yes, in a way.
I am interested in making the hidden structures of a place perceptible. Not by illustrating history, but by creating a new experience.
I hope visitors experience the installation as a discovery – as something that suddenly appears before them and, at the same time, feels as though it naturally belongs to this place.
How would you like visitors to experience your work?
I would like them to take their time.
My works do not tell a story with a beginning and an end. Instead, they invite people to remain in a place for a while and allow their perception to shift.
The installation should be surprising, while at the same time conveying a sense of calm. It should communicate beauty without being loud.
Perhaps it will become a place of contemplation – somewhere people simply want to linger.
Your geometric projections often appear as though they already existed within the landscape. Is that your aim?
Yes.
I do not try to add something to nature. I am much more interested in making structures visible that are already there.
For me, geometry is not an artificial form. It belongs to nature itself. You can find it in plants, crystals, constellations or in the growth of trees.
My projections reveal these hidden relationships. That is why I also see my works as a form of Land Art.
You often speak about wanting your works to create a meditative state. Why is that important to you?
Today, we live in a world that constantly overwhelms us with information.
As a result, we can easily lose our immediate connection to our surroundings. We see images, news and crises, but often they disappear from our awareness again after only a short time.
I am interested in the opposite.
I want to create spaces in which people can direct their attention back to the place they are actually in. Not to their thoughts, but to their perception.
If an installation helps us understand ourselves once again as part of nature, then for me it has fulfilled its purpose.
Biography
Javier Riera is known for his Land Art and projection-based works, which explore the intersection of geometry and nature – a relationship that gives his installations a distinctly meditative quality. His aim is to expand the viewer’s perception towards an experience of visibility and connection with the energy of nature. His works have been presented at numerous light-art festivals around the world, exhibited in leading museums such as the Museo Reina Sofía and MUSAC in Spain, and are held in major public and private collections.
Credits
Concept & Artistic Realisation:
Javier Riera
Sound:
LUMINECHO
Collaborators:
Rosalina Fernández, Javier Palomo