Lijn was a pioneer of kinetic sculpture in the 1960s, several of her works using Perspex, light and electric motors were included in the exhibition of her work at the Mead Gallery in 2005. 

Soon after this exhibition she spent time as artist in residence with the Stardust mission at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.  Here she encountered the silicon-based aerogel which was exposed in space for periods of two years to catch samples of ‘stardust’.  In collaboration with the NASA project team, her metal moulds were used to shape the material which is described as 99 per cent air, 1 per cent glass, heated to become solid. 

This work, Lijn says, “is in essence an artist’s vision of their project.  I see the Stardust mission as an archaeology of outer space”.

 

Artworks by Lilian Lijn in the University Collection