Vanessa Enríquez

Listening to What Disappears

Interview with Vanessa Enríquez (2025)

Your exhibition Transponder II – When Stars Fall Silent explores disappearance, resonance, and memory. What was the starting point for this research?

« My mother’s passing earlier this year had a great effect on me. It made me reflect on what remains – what echoes in our minds beyond someone’s physical presence. The carbon in our cells, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones — all of it was once inside an ancient star. That got me thinking on the cycle of stars and how the death of one can seed the conditions for the birth of many others. There was a desire to honor things that are vanishing—whether bodies, landscapes, languages or frequencies—and to explore how resonance might become a vessel for memory.»

You designed this exhibition in situ at the Château de La Napoule. Can you tell us about the process and how the venue influenced your artistic choices?

« My work is usually site-specific. In this case, the gallery was a very particular one having two spaces each with a big skylight. That connection to the sky was very important in the conception of the works. The arch between them became a crucial passage which was activated through the Nida panels. Rather than imposing the work onto the space, I allowed the space to guide the work. I thought of the exhibition as a series of quiet interventions—gestures that tuned into the Château’s existing frequencies. The site’s proximity to the sea also played a role. There’s a constant presence of the tide, a rhythm of appearing and disappearing, which paralleled my research on resonance and vanishing signals. »

Nida, a material used in aerospace is omnipresent in this exhibition. What attracted you to this particular material?

« I first encountered Nida in 2019 during a residency at the Château, while visiting Thales. Among many industrial materials, the aluminum honeycomb panel caught my attention. Its structure suggests an architecture of emptiness—an interior designed to be invisible, hidden behind protective layers. I was interested in exposing this inner anatomy, allowing its voids to become part of the narrative. Like VHS magnetic tape, which I have explored for over a decade, Nida possesses a paradoxical quality: it shifts from opacity to transparency depending on the viewer’s position and the play of light. Conceptually, working with a material designed for outer space opened a metaphorical field. In this exhibition, it became a carrier—a transponder of absence and of dimensions that exist beyond our sensual perception. »

Your practice seems to combine sculpture, installation, and ritual. How would you describe the evolution of your artistic approach in recent years?

« I see it as a gradual unfolding of my exploration of consciousness. Over the years, my work has become increasingly concerned with presence—how it is constructed, how it fades, and how it can be felt beyond the visible or material. While I began with drawing as a primary language, my approach has expanded into space, time, and sound. Sculpture and installation have become ways to hold emptiness, to shape silence, to create environments that invite a slower kind of attention. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros, I embrace deep listening as a framework for engaging with materials—expanding my perception and allowing them to reveal their own rhythms, resistances and subtle transformations. »

As an artist in residence here, what personal or artistic connection have you forged with the Château and its history?

« From my very first stay at the Château, I was captivated by its proximity to the sea, its gardens, and its layered history. There’s a palpable presence here, shaped by centuries of transformation and resilience. Twice I’ve had the chance to work in the tower, inhabiting its vaulted space and experimenting with its unique resonance—where voices seem to linger in the air. In doing so, I feel part of the château’s ongoing current, a continuum moved by the belief that art can be a powerful, transformative force. »

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